Lost in Jewellery Magazine is featuring Artist Sheila Westera as the winner of a "Room with a View" Award during the Venice Design Week 

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www.sheilawestera.com · @sheilawestera
'I never set out to make jewellery. I believed everything had already been invented.' - SW

Sheila Westera, a Dutch born contemporary Jewellery Artist, who left Amsterdam more than 25 years ago, today works from her studio in the mountains. After a life time of living in cities such as Amsterdam, London and Rome, she settled into a Swiss village around 2017 — each experience becoming part of the process in becoming a maker. Westera grew up in the fine jewellery field through her family, then studied History of Art and Architecture in Amsterdam while working in the diamond and fine jewellery field — learning about technical skill while questioning the human need for adornment. She developed a large interest in Contemporary jewellery next to exploring antique jewellery and with a lifetime of curiosity, she attended different jewellery courses over the years. The path toward making her first neckpiece from debris about 19 years ago, grew out of a critical view of society. ​​
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Arty Scene Collection - Cornucopia

Arty Scenes Collection

Arty Scenes is her activist collection, shaped by a critical mindset held since childhood. Today she's addressing themes from environmental harm to corruption and more. Some of her pieces carry urgency, others spark dialogue. More recently, she has moved toward a softer, more nature-driven voice within the collection, waiting to be announced.
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Arty Scene Collection - Crowd Pleaser, brooch, vintage perfume bottle, parchment, 14k gold filled, steel.
A mini perfume bottle, once my mother's, set onto a square shape — a form we are all connected to, because this is how instagramstarted. How we are influenced by social media, its algorithms. If we see something often enough our dislike will turn into desire.​
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Arty Scene Collection - Fewer Words, 14k gold filled.

Arty Scene Collection  - Obvious, argentium silver, sterling silver.

'A spiky mess in silver that all but screams: LOOK AT ME. Isn't it obvious that I belong? We've never had more attention seekers than today… — an entire generation forming groups, acting in a similar way… not always based on fact, but attitude.  

Arty Scene Collection - Real Truth, ring. Raw Swiss rock crystal, blackened silver.

A ring with an almost too large raw rock crystal for a ring. So many people believe stones carry energy. Funnily enough, quartz does produce a tiny electrical charge under pressure — real physics, no myth required. Whether that's "energy" in the way believers mean it helps them is another matter; the charge is far too small to do anything to a body… much of what can be found  in esoteric shops isn't even what it claims to be — dyed, treated, etc. If there's a real truth here, it's a small one but there are many claims too it being real.​ 

The Conversation Pieces Collection 

Intuitive, sculptural stone jewellery pieces made using self-invented techniques, and where each jewel must have its own personality. Today, she sees these one-of-a-kind pieces as playful, timeless, and unrepeatable to her. The collection's name happened after clients were stopped on the street and asked about their jewel, which made the name "Conversation Pieces" tongue-in-cheek enough because this path had chosen her, after almost a life time of refusal,
​it all became undeniable. 
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Conversation Pieces Collection
Conversation Pieces always begins with a stone — one that speaks to me. I don't select stones to fit a plan; I collect them because something in their shape, colour, or presence catches me, and I follow the feeling I have at that moment. Each jewel is created or sculpted as a response to a stone, or more than one. There are no two jewels within this collection that are the same, and this in itself is what I need — I'm quite bored by repetition, so
​I make sure that each jewel I create stays a challenge to me.
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Conversation Pieces Collection - Twisted

Artist Sheila Westera - Conversation Pieces Collection

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Conversation Pieces Collection - Nepheria
My work is about creating individual jewels. Sometimes more refined, at other times they could be rough and raw, or with a touch of glamour because of its stone, and on another day,
​edgy and dark. I love a certain tension.
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Conversation Pieces Dakota What's The Time
I never set out to make jewellery. I believed everything had already been invented.
Then, in 2007, while mourning my father, I found debris washed up on a lakeshore. I tied it into a necklace to question the world around me. To me, being a maker meant having my own style. I began playing with wire, a basic material, allowing me to sculpt organically, without rules. Later, when I built structures around a single gemstone, driven by a need to own something truly unique, and my friends did too. After years of practice, with drawers full of half-finished pieces, I knew this could become my path, but it wasn’t an easy choice. ​
 I'm drawn to opposites — a simple pebble intricately and finely finished, or a precious stone jewel with a courser finish. My range of techniques lets me play and sculpt, shaping mini worlds of emotion. I still protest, and there is a need to say something with the goal to create a fairer world. Am I a jewellery maker, an artist, or an activist? My love of stones, the need to say something, and the outcome of both words create a certain duality. But since my exhibitions in 2024, ​I've finally learned to embrace this and its critique — just to understand that I'm a jewellery maker who needs to express myself, whatever mood, or conviction, I'm in.
www.sheilawestera.com · @sheilawestera
sheila westera cv
CV Sheila Westera
www.sheilawestera.com · @sheilawestera

Based; Engelberg, Switzerland


Awards
- Three awards, awarded at the same day at the Venice Design Week 2025: 
Rome Jewellery Week — featured artist, upcoming exhibition, October 2026, Lost in Jewellery Magazine — five-day feature. Atelierul Award — "The Iconic Ones" interview


Selected Group Exhibitions
- 2025 — Cluster London, Contemporary Jewellery: Living Trace, London, UK
- 2025 — Florence Biennale, Florence, Italy
- 2025 — Venice Design Week, Venice, Italy — recipient of three awards
- 2024 — Cluster: The Contemporary Jewellery Fair, London, UK
- 2024 — SIERAAD & Friends, Buren, The Netherlands
- 2019 — Group exhibition, Artistar, Milan, Italy
- 2018 — Group exhibition, Artistar, Milan, Italy


Solo Exhibitions
- 2025 — Bildhalle Gallery, Singel, Amsterdam, Netherlands
- 2014 — Go Gallery, Prinsengracht, Amsterdam, Netherlands
- 2011 — Contemporary Glass and Artistic Jewel Gallery, Epe, Netherlands
 
Selected Press & Publications
- 2026 — Interview, Revista Atelierul (Romania)
- 2025 — Interview, University of the Arts London (UAL)


Body of Works
- Conversation Pieces — one-of-a-kind stone jewellery, since 2016
- Arty Scenes — more activistic jewellery, since 2016
- New unnamed collection — planned for 2026
Photo Credits: @GiuseppeBini.ph ; @aaliceangelini ; @sheilawestera
If you want to get selected, participate & receive info on the 'ROOM',
​please use the contact page on the website!
Get in Touch With Us
​email​​: [email protected]
​Lost in Jewellery Magazine, Via Luca della Robbia 76, Rome Italy