Matthijs Boelee, the current head of Fashion Design at Artez, is retiring, Artez announced in a press release. Sanne Schepers will take over from Boelee from the new 2025-2026 academic year. She graduated from Artez in 2011 and was a student of Boelee.
Boelee has 40 years of experience in fashion and art education, 35 of which were at Artez. After graduating from the Fashion Design department of the Academy of the Arts in 1985, where he was taught by founder Elly Lamaker, he quickly started teaching in Arnhem. In addition, he also taught at fashion academies in Maastricht, Breda and Kampen.
During his 19 years as head lecturer at Artez, Matthijs focused particularly on textiles, traditional crafts and technology. He also set up the department’s social media channels and filled them with news and work from students and alumni. In addition, he developed the Arnhem Fashion Design website, an extensive online collection of graduate collections and projects. At the beginning of his career, he combined his passion for education with his own fashion brand Illustrious Imps.
Sanne Schepers to become new head of Artez Fashion Design
Schepers, together with Anne Bosman, is the driving force behind the sustainable fashion brand Schepers Bosman, known for clothing manufactured on a small scale in the Netherlands. She has also been teaching at Artez for several years. Among other things, she supervised the Collectie Arnhem project, which is intended for third-year students. In 2011, she graduated cum laude from Artez with a bachelor's degree in Fashion Design. She then continued her education at l'Institut Français de la Mode (IFM) in Paris, where she obtained a master's degree in Fashion Design.
“We are very grateful to Matthijs for his enthusiasm, commitment and dedication. We wish Sanne every success, pleasure and inspiration in continuing his work, so that Fashion Design at Artez will continue to be a breeding ground for talent and creativity in the future,” the press release stated.