Do you know the Japanese jewellery artist Nobuka Ishikawa (1943-2012)? If the answer to this question is no, you should take the time to visit the Musée de la Carte à Jouer in Issy-les-Moulineaux, just outside Paris.
And if the answer is yes, well, you will be only too happy to know that for a few days more than 150 works from her workshops will be on display.
Mrs Nobuko Ishikawa in her creative office. Photo: © NOBUKO ISHIKAWA
Japan, the country of the designer, was for her an endless source of inspiration. From the 1960s until her death in 2012, she always had the desire and the will to create and have her workshops manufacture jewellery for and in the service of women. This is the first retrospective of her work to be held in France. This is made possible by the twinning between the two cities.
The Twilight Beauty, gold, diamonds, sapphires and lacquer. Photo: © NOBUKO ISHIKAWA
Her work was the result of a marriage between the ideal of Japanese beauty and the finest skills of her country’s craftsmen. At the beginning of her career, she opened a workshop in Ishikawa, a city based near Tokyo, and never left. There she learned and worked on the transmission of the most complex techniques that form the backbone of the crafts. It is this philosophy that still guides the company she left behind.
From Venice to Paris brooch. Gold, diamonds and lacquer. Photo: © NOBUKO ISHIKAWA
Hana Akari necklace. Gold, diamonds, lacquer. Photo: © NOBUKO ISHIKAWA
Borderlands to the train window brooch. Gold, diamonds, sapphires, lacquer. Photo: © NOBUKO ISHIKAWA
The Well Head and Pine Crickets earrings. Gold, diamonds and lacquer. Photo: © NOBUKO ISHIKAWA
To admire this remarkable set, you will have to go to the Musée de la Carte à Jouer between 24 June and 19 July 2015. You can contact the museum by phone at 01 41 23 83 60. I strongly encourage you to go there, it promises to be very beautiful.
See you soon!
