Laila Marie Costa left Naarm mid lockdown in September 2021, headed for Hasselt, Belgium, to commence a Master (Jewellery and Gold & Silversmithing) at the PXL-MAD. After graduating in 2023, she commenced a five-month traineeship with jeweller Ralph Bakker in Rotterdam, working with enamel, silver, yellow gold and gold leaf, as well as establishing a personal archive from 1987.
In September 2024 Costa commenced a three-month artist-in-residence at DIVA Diamond Museum, Antwerp, where she researched industrial diamonds, looked the collection's tiaras and conjured up a jewellerist performance.
Recently returned to Melbourne, she misses cycling along the Albert Canal, barge-spotting.
Laila also has a Bachelor of Art (Fine Art) from RMIT and a Graduate Diploma in Visual Art from Victorian College of the Arts. She has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions locally and internationally. Currently her work is shown in Secret, Sacred & Scattered at DIVA Diamond Museum, Antwerp, Belgium.