The Review Connection | Review: Yasuko Azuma

Yasuko Azuma

Hand Pierced Jewelry Reflects Nature’s Beauty

Yasuko Azuma Jewelry is unique from other jewelry designs because her elegantly feminine and intricately detailed 18k gold precious jewelry collection focuses on earthly delights and changing of seasons, each of which are hand carved and hand finished with her unique piercing style. Her “diamond dust” texture adds a touch of delicate sparkle on her pieces as if to “capture the moment on an icy cold day in winter when the motion in the air sparkles when it freezes.” She achieves this feeling with light hammering to create a glimmer of matte and shine. Yasuko established her company, Yasuko Azuma Jewelry, under her own name in 2003. When it comes to her piercing style, it is uniquely different from the typical laser cut as her technique gives pieces a sharper cutout, while also showing a warm trace of human touch. The combination of her delicate hand piercing and hand finished “diamond dust” texture has become her signature style that has garnered the attention of retailers, press, and consumers.

Yasuko has always had creativity running through her veins as she used to be a fashion designer at a large apparel company in Japan and studied fashion at Hokusei College in Hokkaido. Her mother was a fashion and handbag designer, and Yasuko would often watch her and draw rough sketches of dresses she would want to wear, which her mother would ultimately make for her. Naturally, Yasuko’s childhood passion led her to follow in her mother’s footsteps to pursue fashion design. In 1994, she moved to New York City to begin studying jewelry fabrication and design at the Fashion Institute of Technology, where her passion grew. While she enjoyed being a designer for a large apparel company, she says, “I grew restless following trends and working within the constraints of a corporate company’s vision. I had all of this energy and wanted to explore my own outlets of creative expression.” While in school, her mother asked Yasuko to create a new setting for a family heirloom, a fire opal ring with a broken shank. The end result was an Anemone ring, which exhibited the precision and beauty of the piercing style of tiny flowers and leaves around the bezel and on the shank, giving the gemstone a completely original look. This gave Yasuko the drive and belief that she should pursue jewelry designing to develop her unique identity in the luxury jewelry market.

Yasuko Azuma Jewelry From her Fall 2010 collection, we selected the Kyoto Necklace and Earrings as a set because they look all the more stunning when worn together. While these are available in small, medium and large, we are partial to the medium size necklace and earrings because the discs are petite enough to remain dainty, yet big enough to display the detailed cutout design and diamond. Her signature piercing style captures the lovely essence of leaves cutout among the diamond dust texture. Many of her designs, similar to this one, stem from her childhood memories in her grandmother’s garden, where she still remembers scenes of butterflies fluttering about. “I’m very nostalgic about my childhood, growing up in Japan and playing in my grandmother’s garden,” explains Yasuko. “I can recreate in my mind, the botanicals, the rocks, the hanging lanterns and the way in which the branches seemed to billow and flow.” Another inspiration is Hokkaido, the northern most island of Japan, with its raw nature where unusual yet beautiful things can happen. Yasuko remembers once upon a time in May, there was an unnatural seasonal snow fall the same time the cherry blossoms were in full bloom.

Yasuko works with her husband, Richard Ito, in her New York studio, with the occasional help of two setters and a seasoned jewelry in the city. Yasuko loves working with 18k yellow gold and natural colored diamonds, mostly for their uniqueness and how they are their own universe. More recently, she has been enjoying the contrast between yellow gold and black. Yasuko Azuma Jewelry continues to sell their classic pieces as Yasuko is Yasuko Azuma Jewelry not about following the latest scene, but rather creating something that lasts throughout time. “I prefer not to follow trends but to create styles that are enduring, versatile and collectible. I also believe in jewelry that is more subdued with unexpected surprises and details rather than bold diamond statement looks,” she says. Another Editor’s Pick is the Diamond Thorn Ring, made of 18k matte yellow gold with diamonds throughout. This elegant ring boasts a touch of nature as the band resembles a thorn wrapped around your finger, but softly dusted with diamonds here and there. Unlike other simple bands with diamonds, the minute detail of the small thorns adorning the band adds an element of nature captured in 18k gold.

Her love of fabrics and vintage Kimono patterns and affinity for the old world charm of fans and Ranma (the pierced work on sliding doors in traditional Japanese homes) can be seen in the motifs and graceful lines of Yasuko Azuma Jewelry Yasuko’s designs from the dainty cut outs adorning the sides of a ring shank to the leaves, vines and flowers that bloom on a medallion or flow from earrings. We selected the Kyoto Necklace as an Editor’s Pick for its subtle yet charming quality. This hand pierced necklace is made of 18k matte yellow gold with small diamond center. The delicate cut out design of this necklace resembles the petals of a flower or even bursts of sunlight from its shimmering center. A lovely piece for everyday wear as it can be worn alone or layered with other necklaces.

For earrings, we selected the perfect everyday pair of studs that are simple yet feminine and classic. The Diamond Petal Earrings in 14k yellow gold feature four tiny diamond petals joined to form a dainty flower. While the petals may be small, they exhibit the finesse and detail that Yasuko is known for. The essence of her designs shows through in their subtly. These studs are great to wear daily as the diamond petals offer just the right amount of sparkle and will look fabulous with any outfit. Yasuko’s style is delicate but wearable as most of her rings are thin and necklaces small. “I’d like people wearing my jewelry single, or layered and stacked. There is no rule. Enjoy the way you want to!” she says. The Yasuko Azuma Jewelry collection attracts a broad range of women without ever being overly designed. “The pieces never outshine my customers but rather enhance their diverse and inherent beauty,” Yasuko says.

Yasuko enjoys traveling and found Spain to be quite different from other European countries. From Gaudi’s vivid and amazing architecture in Barcelona to the 10th century “Wall” in Avila, and the scent of Islam in Sevilla, she found it amazing that such different cultures still all live together. Her favorite jewelry designer is Micheal Zobel. Her interests include European contemporary dance, as she often goes to see performances with her favorite being Rosas and Pina Bausch. Yasuko Azuma Jewelry is sold at Kern Fine Jewelry, Clay Pot, Moondance Jewelry, and many other boutiques nationwide. Her pieces are also available for purchase through her website at yasukoazuma.com.

www.yasukoazuma.com

Online magazine offering reviews of restaurants, fashion, baby products, travel, beauty, home products, stationery, and gourmet food.

Fashion

More Articles

Restaurants

Baby

Travel

Beauty

Yasuko Azuma

Advertisements