Hi, my name is Anita Ekelo. I live in the Netherlands, in a little village called Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht, with my husband Lennert and our cats Oscar and Elmo. I'm 32 years old and started making miniatures in 1993.

The name AE Miniatures actually arose by chance. From the beginning I signed my miniatures with AE, embroidered on each right footpad. When Richard van Aalst wrote an article in the English magazine 'Teddy Bear Scene', he added the word Miniatures. This became my definite trading name.

I design and create miniature bears and other critters like dogs, cats, rabbits and even some mice! They're ranging between 2" and 4". I mostly use upholstery velvet (love to use the rare long pile kind of velvet ;-) but for larger miniatures I also use mohair.

As I am a full time teacher at a primary school, I make a limited amount of bears each year. I prefer to make one-of-a-kind bears and occasionally small limited editions.

I hope that you will enjoy visiting my bears. Please feel free to e-mail me with any comments or questions.

Beary greetings,

Anita