Rien Bekkers (1950) is one of the most renowned costume designers of the Netherlands. He is inspired by several  historic styles that he reflects and interprets in his own way. He never simply copies. The clothing of a certain period functions only as a starting point in his new series Shakespeare Costumes. For these miniature costumes, sized 1 meter, he is led by the love for craftmanship. Ethnic influences and unexpected techniques are developed and explored in different ways: he convincingly transforms palcemats in millstone collars and buttons and sequins become easlity armor. For more than thirty years Rien Bekkers has been working as costume designer for a.s. ‘Toneelgroep Amsterdam’, de Nederlandse Opera and a large number of foreign productions. The most fascinating about Bekkers’ design is, the tension between the past and present: he is always underway towards the new, the unknown and unprecedented, whilst he keeps on being sduced by the beauty and enchanted by the imagination.