Born 10 October in Arnhem.

Moves to her uncle and aunt in Heiloo, learns wool spinning and woodwork.

Works for a year as an au pair in London.

Moves to Amsterdam, where she is encouraged to develop her artistic ambitions.

Departs for Paris.

Studies with Ossip Zadkine at the Académie Colarossi, Montparnasse.

Meets Shinkichi Tajiri and learns welding from him. They start living together in a studio behind restaurant Wadja in the courtyard of the Académie Colarossi, later in Sucy-en-Brie. Starts making welded jewellery during this period.

Moves with Tajiri to the rue Vercingétorix in Paris; together they travel on a Triumph 650 through Spain, North Africa, Belgium, the Netherlands, Austria and Italy.

Appears in the film The Vipers by Shinkichi Tajiri and Baird Bryant, awarded the Golden Lion at the International Festival for Amateur Films in Cannes. Later Tajiri makes the 16mm film Ferdi, which shows her at work.

Moves with Tajiri to Amsterdam, Oudezijds Achterburgwal 151, and publicly demonstrates her welding at the RAI Household Fair. AVRO broadcasts the film Ferdi.

Marries Tajiri; their daughter Giotta Fuyo is born on 6 June.

Receives her first public commission, an iron door for the PTT office on Herengracht in Amsterdam. The family moves to a house with studio at Valkenburgerstraat 150–152.

Their daughter Ryu Vinci is born on 25 April.

The family moves to Kasteel Scheres in Baarlo.

The family moves to Minneapolis for a year, where Tajiri is guest professor at the Minneapolis School of Art; the assistants Karl Kleimann and Isamu Kanamori come along.

The family travels for five months through the United States and Mexico, where Ferdi finds the inspiration for her Hortisculptures series.

Begins her Hortisculptures series, using metal frames, foam plastic and fabrics.

Participates in the group exhibitions Young Dutch Talent (Kunsthalle, Basel), First International Exhibition of Erotic Art (Lund, Sweden) and 2 couples, 4 sculptors with Wessel Couzijn, Pearl Perlmutter and Shinkichi Tajiri (Technical University Eindhoven). Has solo exhibitions of her Hortisculptures at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam and at Baucher-Feron, Brussels. In autumn 1968 she undergoes major surgery in Switzerland to relieve severe pain in her right leg and hip.

Passes away on 2 February at Kasteel Scheres, Baarlo.

Her Womb Tomb and Tajiri’s Made in USA take a permanent place in the collection of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, reopened on 15 April.