OBJECT JEWELLERY: pieces to wear or display
BIOGRAPHY
Born 1958 in Sapporo, Japan
Since 1992 lives and works in Switzerland
1977 - 1991 lived and worked in the USA
EXHIBITION
2024 BIENNAL OF CONTEMPORARY METAL ART AND JEWELLERY, METALLOphone 7, Vilnius, Lithuania
2023 FRAMES AND FOCUS. DISPLACED JEWELS, Hannah Gallery, Barcelona, Spain
2023 WAGASHI BY FUMIKO GOTÔ, Atelier A. Senn, Basel, Switzerland
2022 MAQUETTE 1 : 1 = 1 BY GUMIKO GOTÔ, Hannah Gallery, Barcelona, Spain
2022 IN FIERI, MAD, Brusssels, Belgium
2021 CHEONGJU CRAFT BIENNALE, Cheongju, South Korea
2021 TWO OF A KIND, Hannah Gallery, Barcelona, Spain
2020 KUMITE NI TSUGITE BY FUMIKO GOTÔ, Hannah Gallery, Barcelona, Spain
2020 METALLOPHONE: MUSEUM, Vilnius, Lithuania
2019 OSTASIEN, Galerie Biró, Munich, Germany
COLLECTIONS
Federal Office of Culture, Switzerland
MUDAC, musée cantonal de design et d’arts appliqués contemporains, Lausane, Switzerland
PUBLICATIONS
(selection)
- "Hitokuchi oder ein Mundvoll Schmuck", Britta Limper, METER-MAGAZINE.CH, 03.2021, Switzerland
- "Broches de estilo japonés inspirados en dulces que caben en la boca", LA VANGUARDIA, Magazine Life Style, 10. 2020, Spain
- "JAPAN trifft Sixties", Britta Limper, IDEALES HEIM, No.10, 2010, Switzerland
- "Back to the Roots", Britta Limper, UMBAUEN + RENOVIEREN, 9/10 2009, Switzerland
- "ART TEAM", Yasuhiko Taguchi, SPA-DE, Vol. 9, 2008, Japan
- "Bühne frei!", AIT, 1/2 2008, Germany
- "Haute Coiffure", Ellen Rutten, FRAME, #56, May/June 2007, Holland
- "Coiffure Art Team", Stephan Ott, RELAX”, 2007 Frame Publishers and Birkhäuser, Holland, Switzerland
- "Kunst des Origami", Britta Limper, UMBAUEN + RENOVIEREN, 9/10 2007, Switzerland
- "Sixties und ein Hauch Japan", Katrin Ambühl, WOHN REVUE, 5, 2007, Switzerland
EDUCATION
2016 - Various workshops in jewellery technique in England and in Switzerland
1981–83 B. Arch., Southern California Institute of Architecture, Los Angeles, USA
1977–80 University of Oregon, School of Architecture, Eugene, Oregon, USA
1976–77 University of Oregon, School of Fine Arts, Eugene, Oregon, USA
1976 Lewis and Clark College, Portland, Oregon, USA
After over thirty years of practising architecture and design working with different building typologies and at various scales, I have taken on new dimensions and a novel genre in creating object jewellery as artistic pieces to wear or display.
Inspired by traditional Japanese symbols and artefacts, architectural concepts and details, and semiology in literature, I transform streamlined concepts into object jewellery by employing substances and techniques that evoke the chromatic heritage of traditional Japan.
As I practiced in architecture, now my fresh 'ornament' as object jewellery is scaled to the dimensions of the human body, that is, a size that that fits inside of the mouth.
Here I am inspired by the traditional Japanese sweets called 'Wagashi' and I am especially indebted to the size called 'hitokuchi, which means 'a mouthful' – a morsel that can be ingested whole, all at once without first taking a nibble.