From her home in Helmond, which she shares with Dave and Lino the cat, Lieke van der Vorst makes the prettiest illustrations for the Liekeland label. On this spot she’ll let us have a peek at how she works and lives.
When Flow approached me as a guest blogger for the month of March I was very flattered, but worried too, as words aren’t my strong suit. I still hope I can bring a shine to your day and inspire you with my images and illustrations. In this blog post I’ll sum up in a nutshell who I am. In the next ones I’ll also show you where I work, where I get my inspiration from and what projects I’m working on at the moment.
I’m Lieke and I was born 25 years ago in Kaatsheuvel, a village between Tilburg and ’s-Hertogenbosch in the southern part of the Netherlands. I grew up with my dear parents, our dachshund and family, and I always did a lot of drawing. After I finished high school I studied graphic design at the Sint Lucas (a school for creative professionals). I went on an internship to Curaçao afterwards and met Dave.
After I finished my training in graphic design I lived in Breda for four years, where I studied illustration at the Sint Joost Art Academy. In my second year at the academy I started my website Liekeland.nl, on which I collected all my illustrations. Dave and I also personally illustrated 75 mugs that year.
Last summer I graduated and Dave and I moved to Helmond with our cat Lino, into this old anti-squat house. We started a vegetable patch in the overgrown backyard and we took cuttings of berry plants. The garden was complete when I got my chickens last year.
This is where I make my illustrations, I have a small ceramics work shop and I make large felted animals. Next week I’ll tell you more about the work spaces and projects, see you then!
Lieke
