Biography

Exhibitions

Selected Exhibitions

2002
WINTER JOURNEY Christmas Exhibition, Galerie Slavik, Vienna, Austria (’04)
2005
Schmuck, Munich, Germany (’08, ’11, ’12, ’13, ’15, ’16)
SOFA New York, Mobilia Gallery, USA (’06, ’07, ’08, ’09)
SOFA Chicago, Mobilia Gallery, USA (’06)
2007
Collectables, Alternatives Gallery, Rome, Italy
2008
Magie Der Schmuckkunst, Galerie Slavik, Vienna, Austria
Collect, Victoria & Albert Museum, Alternative Gallery (’13, ’14, ’15)
Galerie Pilartz, Cologne, Germany
Exhibition of Contemporary Jewellery Yufuku Collection, Yufuku Gallery, Tokyo, Japan (’10, ’11, ’14)
2009
Cut the edge, Weave the Line Textile Arts, Mobilia Gallery, USA
Collect, London, UK – Alternatives Gallery, Rome, Italy (’10, ’11) / Yufuku Gallery, Japan (’13, ’14, ’15)
Paper jewellery exhibition, Triennale Design Museum, Milan, Italy
Progetto Pezzi Di Luna – Music and Contemporary Jewelly, Padova, Italy
Zwischen den Jahren, Galerie Pilartz, Cologne, Germany
Heirlooms of the Future, Mobilia Gallery, USA
2010
20 Jahre Galerie Slavik, Galerie Slavik, Vienna, Austria
2011
Objects of Status, Power and Adornment, Mobilia Gallery, USA

Duo-Exhibition, Alternatives Gallery, Rome, Italy
2012
One, Mixed Media Foundation, Padova, Italy
Contemporary visions of the necklace art for the ear the art of the ring, Mobilia Gallery, USA
LOOT 2012, M.A.D. Gallery, New York, USA
The Tree – A Material for Arts and Crafts, Galerie Handwerk, Munich, Germany
Unexpected Pleasures, National Gallery of Victoria, Australia
2013
Duo-exhibition, Kayo Saitou, Kazumi Nagano, Galerie Orfeo, Luxembourg
Galerie Sofie Lachaert, Belgium
TEFAF Maastricht, The Netherlands (’14, ’15, ’16, ’17, ’18, ’19, ’20, ’22)
2014
Design Days Dubai, Galerie sofie lachaert, Belgium
Petit est beau. Paper Jewelry, Manggha Muzeum, Poland
2015
Schmuck 1970 – 2015, Sammlung Bollmann, Vienna, Austria
Not Too Precious, Ruthin, UK
Galerie Noel, Canada
2016
Not Too Precious, National Craft Gallery, Ireland
MONO Japan, Amsterdam
Skin: the jewellery surface, Museo del Gioiello Museum, Italy
25 JAHRE GALERIE SLAVIK, Galerie Slavik Vienna, Austria
Solo-exhibition, MANO Gallery, Taiwan
Spring Masters New York, USA
EAF Monaco, Monaco
2017
TEFAF New York Spring, USA
Group-exhibition, The Most Secret Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
SOFA Chicago, Galerie Noel Guyomarc’h, Canada
Jewelry of Ideas, Cooper Hewit Smithsonian Design Museum, New York, USA
TWO × TWO for the Foundation of AIDS Research and the Dallas Museum of Art, USA (Galerie Noel Guyomarc’ h, Canada)
Korean Craft and Design Fair, South Korea (Galerie Noel Guyomarc’ h, Canada)
2018
Pin Point Exhibition, Mobilia Gallery, USA
Precious Thoughts, Confraternity of St. Rocco, Padova, Italy
2019
Art Fair Tokyo 2019, gallery deux poisons, Japan
FIREWORKS mit / with Stefano Marchetti & Kazumi Nagano, Galerie Slavik Vienna, Austria
Melbourne Contemporary Jewelry and Object Trail, Radiant Pavilion, Australia / Rubicon ARI Gallery, Australia
Group-exhibition, RMIT Gallery, Australia
Invisible Thread a story of 4 makers, Het Labo Atrium, Japan
1500 rings covering 4000 years of rings Alice and Louis Koch collection, Swiss National Museum, Switzerland
Contemporary Jewelry 1970 – 2019 Bollman Collection, Oratorio di San Rocco, Italy
Group Exhibition, Thereza Pedrosa Gallery, Italy
Sieraad Art Fair, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (Thereza Pedrosa Gallery)
2020
Opening Ceremony, A Lighthouse called Kanata, Tokyo, Japan
Jewelry from Architecture, Mobilia Gallery, USA
Winter Journey, Galerie Slavik, Vienna, Austria
2021
RE:OPENING CEREMONY, A Lighthouse called Kanata, Tokyo, Japan
Group Exhibition, gallery deux poissons, Tokyo, Japan

Awards

2002　Fine Works Prize, Japan Jewellery Art Competition, Tokyo

Public Collections

Victoria & Albert Museum, UK
Alice & Louis Koch Collection of Rings, Switzerland
Olnick Spanu Collection, USA
Bollmann Collection, Austria
Katrin Basiner Collection, Germany
The Cominelli Foundation, Italy
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, Susan Grant Lewin Collection, USA
Pureun Culture Foundation, Seoul, South Korea
Montreal Museum of Fine Art, Montreal, Canada

永野和美 Kazumi
Nagano Kazumi
Nagano

brooch (2014)

left: H6.5 x W6.5 x D3 cm / right: H5.5 x W5.5 x D4.5 cm

Kazumi
Nagano

Profile

1946 Born in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan
1972 Tama Art University, MFA / Lives and works in Tokyo

01 Exhibitions More
02 Awards More
03 Public Collections More

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About
the ArtistAbout
the Artist

As if capturing the beauty of Japanese painting into her woven jewellery, epitomised by the moon, flowers, and subtleties of snow, it can be said that Kazumi Nagano (b. 1946 –) is one of the leading artists in her field. Contemporary jewellery is one of the most hotly-collected mediums in applied arts by museums and collectors, and Nagano’s works, which embody conceptual, structural and creative elegance, have been collected by the Victoria & Albert Museum and a multitude of various important private collections in recent years. Striking is the fact that Nagano had only delved into the world of jewellery after reaching the age of 50. Instead, she was formally educated as a Nihonga (traditional Japanese painting) artist. Yet, as if painting the aesthetics of traditional Japan into her three-dimensional pieces, her seductive silhouettes are emblematic of the romanticism inherently found in the two-dimensional world of Japanese painting, of subtle flowers blowing in the wind, with reverence to the warmth of not the sun but of moonlight. Serenity, not dynamism, is the hallmark of Nagano’s luscious forms made from materials such as gold and platinum threads, combined with the elasticity of the contemporary material that is nylon.

The world of Japanese painting has been condensed and captured into both sartorial and visual beauty within the contemporary jewellery of Kazumi Nagano. Widely known for the supple silhouettes found in her gold and platinum bracelets, brooches, and necklaces such as the piece featured in this catalogue, Nagano creates her art objects by utilising threads made of various precious metals and weaving them together as if tapestry.

Obtaining her raw materials from Kyoto, the materials of gold (in widely different colours) and platinum are ingeniously transformed into her warp, or longitudinal threads, while her lateral threads, or weft, are made from nylon in order to add an element of elasticity, texture and substance. By weaving the warp and weft into her loom, radiant sheets of gold and platinum are completed. Then, Nagano ultimately uses her hands to tie, knot, and braid her works into eloquent silhouettes that are not only beautiful when worn, but are also elegantly displayed as installation.

WorksWorks

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