Bernadette Van Den Steen, graduate of art education decided after her studies to take a course of ceramics, a direction that attracted her.
She successfully finished the course of ceramics/sculpture in the Academy of fine arts in Aalst. Her organic three dimensional objects were appreciated with result a degree with honours, the Valerius De Sadeleer first prize of the city of Aalst for her final work, and another prize from the city of Ninove.
About the same time Bernadette starts her carrier as decorator and later as sales manager within the furniture giant IKEA in Belgium. But her personal philosophy and expectations did not totally agree with the greediness and strategy of this multinational company.
In 1993 Bernadette started together with her husband their own business, creating modern design jewellery and ceramics. Since 1995 starts a new page for her. Having experience of many years in designing, combined with her sales and management experience from her previous job start her carrier.
After researching the Belgian and European interior and decoration markets she has created an original and unique collection of functional and decorative ceramics. With it she has taken part and exposed in top European trade shows as Maison & objets in Paris, France, Tendence in Frankfurt, Germany, and Top drawer in London, England.
With some trustworthy customers she has built a broad assortment of unique pieces and also small or large series of ceramics.
A closer look at every piece says that this is not a mass product made to be sold by hundreds without any character but rather one that has its own identity and soul. It’s spiritual, actual, and timeless, a piece of work that changes every time in new forms and faces, done in that way in order to surprise her public that looks for originality and authenticity. Except her own showroom where these objects d’art are exhibited, Bernadette has spread her collections and one of a kind ceramics around in different galleries and interior shops in Belgium and abroad.
In 2003 Bernadette started together with her husband and jewellery designer Nikolaos Theodoridis a new concept: Precious Ceramic Artwork. This is a top line of ceramic objects that are finished with silver, gold and platinum elements. Still every piece is built by hand, glazed by hand, and then finally dressed with precious metals, and that result in a precious artwork.
The last years a very important part of her work is dedicated to the theme of life after death. She has launched a wide collection of urns named “is there life after death?”
She developed this collection in order to give new dimensions for these markets. The production is totally done in her own studio in Antwerp, Belgium. Every ceramic is signed by her for authenticity with her initials. This collection is distributed in Belgium, France, Netherlands, and United Kingdom……..