2021 Catalogue Archive

Based in Hasselt, Belgium, Lore Langendries describes herself as an artistic maker active in the field of contemporary jewelry and object design. Since pursuing her PhD in the Arts, she has been researching and experimenting with “a fusion of natural materials, mechanical treatment, and the human touch.” Observing today’s internet age flush with digital imagery, Langendries emphasizes the human need for physical touch and tangible artifacts. She works primarily with animal hides, an ideal medium for tactile jewelry – people just can’t help but run their fingers across a hairy or furry surface. In her unique process, she uses industrial machinery such as a laser cutter to work her organic material, “handling an innovative digital technology through a craftsman-like way of thinking.” All the hides she uses are byproducts of the meat industry, and she focuses on the uniqueness of each hide, noting that they “vary in structure, hair growth, hair direction, and skin thickness.” By making her pieces in simple geometric shapes, she draws attention to the distinct features of each piece of hide used. She showcases this technique in her series of brooches entitled, Hide, the Fragment. In some of these pieces, Langendries makes her own additions to the hide’s natural pattern, often trimming and shaving her own designs into the hairy surfaces. In this brooch from the series, Survived #3, she took this approach by notching in her own abstract pattern, which follows the grain of the hide. Langendries was a finalist for the Art Jewelry Forum’s 2020 Young Artist Award, having presented this series. In 2017, she won the Henry Van de Velde Award for Design in Flanders, Belgium. Two years prior, she completed her PhD at the KU Leuven, the University of Hasselt and the PXL-MAD.  Her work is represented in galleries across Europe and in Canada, the United States, South Korea, and Australia.