Zjef graduated from Art School, the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam, in 1992 with a degree in Theatre Design, focusing on set design, costume design and art direction. He finished his degree in Shoemaking and Shoe design in Den Bosch (NL) also 1992.

 

Once out of school Zjef transformed his sets into environments and his costumes into fetish wear. He also started to develop performances to bring his fetish wear and environments alive. It became an expressive way for him to combine all aspects of theatre and design into one experience.​ Zjef branded his name to ZJEFWORKS ever since.

Instead of designing Shoes as Accessories in Fashion he was focussing on research into the cult of the shoe and it's meaning in society, creating more innovative and theatrical but wearable shoes.

Zjef studied Theatre from 1994-1996 at DASARTS ( www.dasarts.nl ) with director Ritsaert ten Cate. Here he explored the key elements in Performance Art and created many new images for Theatre and Art Galleries alike.

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He was awarded his US GreenCard as an artist in 2011 and lived/worked in New York until 2019. Now his focus is on passion projects in Amsterdam and Portugal:

BoaBoa building a creative community in Lagos, Algarve

boxxx art collective in the heart of Jordaan, Amsterdam

PEEKABOO  LGBTQIA+ art at Internationaal Theater Amsterdam