This personal touch comes from a jewellery-making process that's grounded in traditional craftsmanship. Bibi herself describes her jewellery pieces as "miniature sculptures." Working with sustainable and unexpected materials, among them 60,000-year-old mammoth tusk, ostrich eggs, and scarab wings, as Bibi hand-sketches and hand-carves the initial idea for each piece in wax.

The artistic sensibility comes from Bibi's background; born in New York and raised in both England and the Netherlands, Bibi studied fine arts in Florence, Italy, before honing her eye at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam and the Royal Academy of Arts in The Hague. Bibi van der Velden launched her namesake brand in 2006 and now creates jewellery and sculpture from her studio in Amsterdam. Bibi's Dutch heritage can be found in her jewellery today, with the country's rich art history one of the many influences on her work. Nature and the animal world other constants that inspires Bibi's designs, from earrings fashioned as swirling tornadoes to statement alligator earrings carved from mammoth tusk and gold to a noble mammoth unicorn that sits on a gold ring.