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artist - designer - maker
Hello, my name is Renate Kriegler. I am a 40-something artist-designer-maker slash creative type - with a background in jewellery design, but also dabbling in fine art, digital art and design, 3D modelling and 3D printing, textile art, upcycling, creative writing and acting. ADHD, neurospicy... A Jock of all trades...
Yes, a Jock, because I'm a proud New Scot. I moved to the UK - Scotland in particular - from South Africa, where I was born and bred near Cape Town. And, yes, my mother tongue is Afrikaans. So expect some Afrikaans humour. I relish puns - in Afrikaans and English, and especially visual puns. O and there's the occasional attempt at haiku, senryū, haiga or shahai.
I hold a BA in Fine Arts from Stellenbosch University, and presently am working on my dissertation project towards an MA in Participatory Arts (previously Applied Arts and Social Practice) from Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh. Returning to university in later life is a vibe!
In the year 2000 I enjoyed a bit of fame and fortune after winning the World Gold Council's prestigious Gold Virtuosi International Jewellery Design Award.
In-between now and my early years in high-end jewellery, I winged it in IT, compliance, charity, social care, education, local authority, marketing... and did 10 years as registered PRINCE2 project manager.
What else could I tell you?
I love adventures, surprises, the sun, swimming in the ocean, dense forests, moss, silk, gold, opera, massages, sushi, baked cheesecake, espresso martinis, drag, the smell of books, art-house cinema (especially erotic psychological thrillers), laughter, puns and dogs.
I am a devoted chihuahua mum. I thought I was a good dog parent until I got a rescue chihuahua. And then another. (Turns out Spike the Jack Russell was a saint!)
Complications from cancer treatments and surgery set me back a bit and I'm not as energetic and mobile as I used to be, but Roberto the Fiat 500e makes up for a lot! Don't get me started on electric cars... I'll leave you with the fact that I can drive over 120 miles on an overnight charge that costs me just £3 with Octopus Energy!
Yea, I'm a lucky and grateful breast cancer survivor. Every day I celebrate having my crazy hair back, but lament the permanent loss of my brows!
But: my German forename - Renate - means "rebirth", and I really identify with and live by it! I firmly believe in our ability to learn continuously, change for the better, to reinvent ourselves and to manifest good things in our lives. Too woo-woo? Lifelong neuroplasticity has been proven scientifically!
Most people think of me as a cheery, happy-go-lucky, look-on-the-bright-side woman with a big smile, and they would be right. But the flip-side of that is my need for regular down-time by myself to recharge my batteries, and occasional and shameless duvet and boxset weeks. Everyone has mental health, and it's good to talk about it!
In that vein, I don't see the world and life as either this or that, good or bad, right or wrong, truth or lie, light or dark, black or white... To me, everything is on a sort of spectrum - an unknown portion of which I cannot perceive. I don't identify as just a woman, but that doesn't make me gay or masculine*. And I don't know what I don't know.
I do believe though that all humans are of the same species. (Just like all shapes, sizes and colours of dogs are dogs!) We all have a lot more in common than we don't.
You'll find me campaigning for all sentient beings, the earth, accessibility (as opposed to disability), inclusiveness, social justice, and - yes - world peace.
I think curiosity is a great attitude to bring to most situations.
* PS: I identify as a neurospicy non-binary asexual capybara, and my pronouns are she/her/they/them. And that may change!
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