Kazumi Nagano necklace (2021)

As if capturing the beauty of Japanese Nihonga paintings into her woven jewellery, epitomised by the moon, flowers, and subtleties of snow, Nagano is one of the leading Japanese artists in her field.
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 painter. 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, are the hallmarks 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.