Dutch jewelry designer Katja Prins was born in Haarlem, The Netherlands, in 1970. She received her education and training at Schoonhoven Vocational School, graduating in 1993, and at Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam, graduating in 1997. She also studied under jeweler and sculptor Ruudt Peters. Prins began her technical training as a goldsmith, but more interested in the creative process rather than technical details, she refers to herself as “an artist whose medium happens to be jewelry.”[1] In addition to creating art jewelry, Prins travels and teaches across the globe; she has guest lectured at a number of institutions including Academy Beeldende Kunsten Maastricht, Hiko Mizuno College, Tokyo, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, and her alma mater, Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam. Prins’s jewelry is in the collections of many museums and institutions.
Prins is very interested in the human body and its interactions with instruments and machines. She has a connection to the VU Hospital in Amsterdam, which informs some of her work with modern medical technology and the future of the human body. She says that she avoids imposing too much narrative on her pieces; she wants those who wear her jewelry to discover stories on their own. Prins lives and continues to design jewelry in Amsterdam.
[1] Katja Prins, interview by Susan Cummins, “Katja Prins: Hybrids,” Art Jewelry Forum, accessed August 25, 2016, https://artjewelryforum.org/ajf-blog/katja-prins-hybrids.