Fumiko Gotô, born 1958, Sapporo, (JP). Fumiko studied fine arts and architecture in the US. She has worked at various architectural firms in such locations as Los Angeles (US), New York (US), Zurich (CH) and Basel (CH) and has been head of her own office, first in Los Angeles and then in Basel. During over thirty years of practicing architecture, she has worked at different scales and with various typologies. Published internationally, her projects have not only entailed buildings and interiors, but also furniture design. Recently she has taken on a new scale and genre in creating jewellery, inspired by her native Japanese culture. Since 1995, Fumiko has been living and working in Basel.


Fumiko on her work:
Inspired by traditional Japanese symbols and artefacts, I have abstracted and transformed their recurring motifs 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 profound chromatic heritage of traditional Japanese jewellery.
As in architecture, which I have practiced for over thirty years, the scale of my jewellery is set in relation to human physiology. Particularly for this series of jewellery I set the scale to a size that fits into the mouth, as I am much inspired by traditional Japanese sweets called Wagashi. I am especially compelled by the size variation hitokuchi, which means a “mouthful” - a morsel that can be ingested whole, all at once, without first taking a nibble.


Portrait of the artist by Christin Losta www.christinlosta.de