I live with my husband Robert in Holland in a town called Vlaardingen next door to a working windmill. I used to be a hairstylist but then Teddy Bears came into my life. It all began after visiting a local doll and teddy bear show where only a few Teddy Bear makers presented their work. The bears caught my attention and back home I could not think of anything else than what it would take to make my own teddy bear! Could I do that too??? I bought a pattern and started on my first bear ever, (I still have that bear but he looks very different than the bears I make now) but when it was finished, more questions went through my mind! How did the others get their special looks?? I was convinced that I could do better and soon I was making bear after bear until I realized that my bears had developed their own significant expression.

I think that my specialty is that every bear is an individual! Through the years the designs went from a classic bear into an almost natural looking bear! Most of the time now, my bears are a mixture of both styles. When I make the face I love to use textile paint to give the bears that special look. Most collectors recognize my bears through their expressions, but one time I met an older lady in Japan who had one of my bears given to her as a present. Without any introduction she recognized my bears...by the feel of it! She explained later that she was blind since her childhood; that was a very special moment for me!!

I always love the moment when one of my bears finds a new home. When the collector lifts the bears from my table and I see the smile and look of love come up in their face, I know that the love for a teddy bear is something very special and the same all over the world.

I am a bear maker. Wow and hmmmm...it still sounds amazing to me to be able to say that. Here is how it happened: In 1998 a friend called me to say she had found something for us to try. The two of us had already done water color classes together but decided it was not really for us. Now she wanted me to sew? I thought it was pretty funny because I had never learned how to use a sewing machine...but she said it would be hand stitching and assured me that we could do this and it would be fun. I carefully but somewhat tentatively, stitched and jointed my first 4 inch bear...with much laughing and supervision. When his little face appeared....as if by magic...that was it, I was hooked! All I wanted to do immediately after the first one was to make more! I began with a few patterns; took a few local bear making classes...and that, as they say is history.

I read everything I could find about bear making and began to try a few pattern pieces of my own. I don't think I can say I have a particular style, but a couple of "looks" do keep popping up in my bears. A poodle and a bichon have also now sneaked their way into the collection.

In 2004 I also tried doll making and now have two ongoing endeavours that require sewing! Hilarious! Still, it is the faces, just as with the bears...that really get me. I am constantly amazed that I can do another one. Every time I begin a doll or a bear, I wonder how the face will turn out...will it be cute, or pretty, or have some endearing quality? Will I be able to do one at all? I am always so pleasantly surprised and yes...I have to admit it...also quietly proud, if it makes me say awwwwww or ohhhhh...right out loud to nobody in particular but myself!

I started making bears in 1995. I design all the bears myself, I do some limited editions, but mainly I do one of a kind. I also like to design and make clothes for all sizes of bears, from 4" to 15". I started showing my bears at craft fairs, then I sold to shops & now I do the major shows in Kensington, London.