Fumiko Gotô

Born and growing up in Japan, and having lived many years in the US and Switzerland, my long desired interest in applying traditional Japanese motifs on creating ornament, is now taking a shape – perhaps it is also my challenge on the still maintained modernist -manifestos such as form follows function or less is more.

Inspired by traditional Japanese motifs and artefacts, I have transformed these forms into jewellery, employing substances reminiscent of traditional materials, such as carving and polishing black buffalo horn which recalls lacquerware; mammoth ivory as a substitute for protected ivory; and gems that evoke the chromatic heritage of traditional Japanese jewellery.

As in architecture, I set the scale of my jewellery to the human physiology, however in this case namely the size that fits in the mouth, as inspired by traditional Japanese sweets – wagashi.  I have been especially compelled by the size hitokuchi, which means mouthful – a morsel can be ingested whole, all at once, without first taking a nibble.
 

CV