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After her graduation from the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam, Joke went to Paris in 1985. There she designed prints for textiles using traditional and non traditional techniques and experimented with several materials, dyes and paint. Her work method was noticed by fashion designers and her work has also been used for trend forecasting purposes.

Among others, her designs were sold to J.C. de Castelbajac, Daniel Hechter, Cacharell, Macy’s and she made several collections for Li Edelkoort. After the birth of her first child, Laila, Joke moved back to Amsterdam where she continued working with textiles and developed a particular interest in the process of indigo and mineral dyes. It was at this time that Joke began to be involved in many successful collaborative projects.

She also took the initiative of a number of community art projects which have been realised in public buildings in Haarlem, Almere and Amsterdam.

She has received several prizes, including the Best Collection on the Premier Vision, the prize for Outstanding Lacquer Contest in Japan, and has had a number of scholarships from the Dutch Government. During her period as a teacher at The Vogue Academy, she also had a solo exhibition in The Textile Museum in Tilburg. In the year 2000 Joke began exhibiting her handmade jewelery and handbags, and launched her own label: Joke Schole Amsterdam.

Around 2009 she started working with porcelain. As a child she was already familiair with clay as her brother is a sculptor and used to give her some. The fine porcelain gave her many ideas like she has brought the history of Amstel porcelain back to life by developing her New Amstel Porcelain. She made jewellery and small art objects with this beautiful product. Always with Limoges and gold.

Her work has been shown worldwide in galleries and museums, and has many collectors.

Biography

Designer, painter, craftswoman, ceramicist, Joke Schole is hard to label. She inexhaustibly keeps looking for new techniques to combine materials.

“The stories come when I start creating, putting the right elements together, working in the flow, and having fun combining unusual things. Things I find in nature, from the sea or even from a walk with the dog. Sometimes while visiting a flea market I find old toys or used crockery which I then use to make plaster moulds. I also like to incorporate pieces of lace to stamp on the porcelain clay."

"Before or after moulding I might change the object or structure, I want to feel free to play with the clay. Somehow messages become part of my art work, even when unintended, and although funny, they can also be moralistic sometimes.”

Work collected at

- Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, NY

- Textile Museum, Tilburg, Holland

- Museum of Bags and Purses, Amsterdam, Holland

- CODA Museum, Apeldoorn, Holland

- and many private collectors

Work

Joke Schole’s creations challenge the viewer to engage in a dialogue. Her art is based on storytelling, it’s symbolic, full of humour and harmony, and yet often profound.

Using fine porcelain, sometimes combined with textiles, paint, or other materials, Joke’s work creates something unexpected. The soul in her creations comes, from the playful approach to her work where she combines a regular and repetitive approach with irregularity and the unexpected … but the details make the perfection.

She hopes that it will both surprise the viewer and stimulate their imagination. Joke’s jewellery and crockery are made as limited editions – every piece has different details and is hand finished.