Leanie van der Vyver graduated with a Bachelors of Design (Cum Laude) from the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam in 2012.
The project Scary beautiful was nominated for the Gerrit Rietveld design prize. Here follows the Jury report of jury members Barbara Visser, visual artist and Xander Karskens, curator of De Hallen:’ The object created by Leanie expands the concept of a shoe into multiple new meanings. The beautifully made leather object is accompanied by a video registration of a girl wearing it. One observes the design forcing the wearer to develop a new way of walking, leaning forward while refining a painfully fragile balance. The jury applauds the way aesthetics, ergonomics and prosthesis merge into an awkward choreography. The craftsmanship and strong conceptual way of designing also show in another work, a ceramic tea set in which reference is made to a building in South Africa. Leanie succeeds in translating political consciousness into form and is considered by the jury to be a meaningful future designer.’
