Rosewood Amsterdam has deepened its commitment to experiential luxury with the debut of Jewels on Wheels, a mobile jewelry installation by Dutch artist and jeweler Bibi van der Velden. The initiative marked a creative collaboration between the designer and the hotel, in which she serves as the house jeweler.
Part gallery, part boutique and part interactive display, Jewels on Wheels moves freely within the hotel, transforming spaces such as The Court and the Grand Library into settings for personal encounters with fine jewelry. Guests can request private viewings through a dedicated in-house phone line, inviting an unusual degree of immediacy and intimacy into the traditional retail experience.
The traveling cart presents a rotating collection of approximately 30 signature and one-of-a-kind pieces drawn from Bibi van der Velden’s most celebrated lines, including Alligator, Scarab, Smoke, Waves and Animal Kingdom. Each piece illustrates her signature approach, melding 18-karat recycled gold with unconventional materials such as a 60,000-year-old mammoth tusk, baroque pearls, malachite, ebony and semiprecious stones.
For van der Velden, choosing Rosewood Amsterdam as the residence of her Jewels on Wheels work felt “instinctively right.”
Bibi van der Velden
Courtesy of Rosewood Hotel
“There’s a shared way of thinking, an appreciation for craftsmanship, for detail, but also for creating something that goes beyond the expected,” she told WWD. The artist noted the hotel’s proximity to her studio and flagship, plus its balance of 19th-century courthouse history and modern interiors by Studio Piet Boon and Piet Oudolf. “Much like my jewelry, where there are always hidden details, mechanisms and moments of discovery, the hotel invites that same sense of exploration.”
The cart itself functions as both sculpture and stage. Crafted in fine wood marquetry of black walnut, birch, oak and zebrano, it’s finished in linseed oil tinted with the brand’s signature malachite green and Delft blue, a nod to Dutch craftsmanship.
“I often find myself wandering through De 9 Straatjes [in Amsterdam], exploring antique and vintage stores, discovering small, hidden treasures. That sense of curiosity and layered history is something I wanted to capture,” she said.
Bibi van der Velden’s Jewels on Wheels at the Rosewood Amsterdam hotel.
Courtesy of Rosewood Hotel / EVA PRAYCE
The concept stemmed from her view that jewelry should not stay behind glass. “Jewelry is something that should be discovered more instinctively, almost stumbled upon,” she said. Her kinetic designs, like the moving vertebrae of the alligator wrap bracelet or the revealing Rock Pool Ring, inspired the mobile format, developed with designer Noa Verhofstad.
“If the jewelry itself is about movement and uncovering hidden details, it made sense for the way it’s presented to reflect that as well. By allowing the cart to move through the hotel — or
be summoned privately — it creates a more dynamic, intimate encounter,” van der Velden said.
Inside the cart, a miniature world unfolds: gold-leafed foliage, ceramic clouds and sculpted insects animate a scene where a gilded alligator anchors the composition, symbolizing transformation. A hidden mechanical scarab moves across the display, suggesting rebirth and motion, while a circular screen plays short films offering a behind-the-scenes look at van der Velden’s creative process.
“My work is often rooted in mechanics. When translating sculpture into jewelry, there’s always a level of engineering involved — hidden clasps, articulated movement, the way something opens or shifts on the body. It’s something I consider instinctively, and something
I enjoy — finding that balance between imagination and precision,” van der Velden said.
Bibi van der Velden’s Jewels on Wheels at the Rosewood Amsterdam hotel.
Courtesy of Rosewood Hotel / EVA PRAYCE
Beyond its artistic surface, the installation features precise engineering and integrated power systems that enable it to glide seamlessly across the property. Guests can handle the jewelry, explore secret compartments, and use magnifying tools to examine fine details. Purchases can be made directly from the cart in a calm, personalized setting, elevating the jewelry experience from transactional to immersive.
A sculptor as well as a jeweler, van der Velden is known internationally for transforming organic and antique materials into wearable art informed by myth and nature. With her atelier and flagship boutique located nearby, Jewels on Wheels extends her creative universe into the heart of the city. Looking ahead, she plans a vintage Citroën HY as a traveling vitrine for a European road trip this summer.
“The idea was never for it to remain in one place. It’s something that can adapt depending on its environment. This summer, I’m taking that idea quite literally. I’ve converted a vintage Citroën HY into a traveling jewelry vitrine — a driving conservatory filled with fantastical, almost surreal flowers, with the jewels woven in between. It becomes this immersive, moving world — almost like an art exhibition on wheels, with jewelry at its heart,” van der Velden said.
