One of my favorite aspects of Japanese culture is a permeating belief that there is beauty in impermanence. Petals fall from flowers, lines deepen in a face.
The philosophy extends to many contexts - nature, work, family, art - but a core tenet is the cyclical nature of life. Even the best thing you birth won’t last, but find beauty in mothering it anyway.
You can see a quiet appreciation for fragility in many traditional Japanese art forms, including kintsugi (repairing broken ceramics with lacquer and gold), ikebana (flower arrangement), and aizome (indigo-dyed cloth).
I find a lot of inspiration through that quiet appreciation. Impermanence doesn’t need a loud declaration - it’s something we all recognize and can therefore internalize to reflect on what that means to us.
Story of a piece: Fallen Sakura Petal Ring
One of my favorite scenes in Tokyo is when fallen sakura petals float along Meguro River in April. The pale pink petals swirl in the water, creating mesmerizing, constantly changing patterns.
There is a sense of melancholy and longing as the sakura season closes in Japan. The beauty of the fallen petals is a poetic reminder that everything returns to earth.
I was inspired by the petals on the river to capture the moment between life on a tree and disintegration. Cast in solid k18 rose gold, the textured pink petal floats on a thin band. The ring holds nostalgia for me of seasons past and anticipation for springs to come.
In the studio: works in-progress
I’ve been playing around with two ring designs this week. Both are in very early stages and I’m not sure yet what the final forms will be or if/when they will make my official collection.
For the ring with interlocking loops, I don’t think I’ll move forward with it as a ring (maybe I can repurpose the loops for something else though!).
For the ring with the plain band and accent “S”, I like the overall shape and am considering make a similar version where the band is platinum and the “S” is in yellow gold (as opposed to having the whole ring be gold). I’m undecided so might sit on this piece for a while and revisit it down the road.
I finished my first bezel setting practice with a random stone that Maya from ileava jewelry kindly gave me from her studio. I had two main takeaways from this attempt: 1) the metal needs to be very thin and 2) to really focus on cleaning up the top of the metal before closing it over the stone. I’m going to try again this week and keep practicing.
What inspired me recently:
My favorite poem by Mary Oliver - I love it so much I have it printed and framed in my studio. I recommend checking out the book “Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver” as a starting point for her work.
The texture in this mug by Sugiyama Akari
