Japan's
Nijō Castle is actually a composite of two palaces, the
Ninomaru, and
Hanmaru, as well as parts of
Fushimi Castle. One memorable architectural detail of the
Ninomaru Palace is its squeaking "nightingale floors," strategically designed to alert the Shogun of sneak attacks and assassins through bird-like squeaking. Japan is also the birthplace of featured jewelry designer
Yuri Kawanabe.
Since beginning this blog, I have learned that whether or not a jewelry design is elaborate or simple every designer appreciates classic form.
Both styles of jewelry, after all, are built on the foundation of a simple line, curve, or angle.
Many complex jewelry pieces are born from precise conceptualizations. Many designers sketch these concepts, others allow instinct to take over, and the design builds itself in a sense.
A graduate of
Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, Kawanabe's dramatic, three-dimensional configurations are more like miniature sculptures than jewelry.
With the use of patinated and anodized brass, copper, gold, and aluminum, her aesthetic focus is capturing movement. The renderings are spectacular pieces highlighting beautiful, flowing curvatures and spiky angles.
"I have a fascination with form that expresses movement. I work with paper models before building a piece from flat metal sheets," she says.
"The process of cutting and folding the paper rekindles memories of my childhood when I would help my father make Japanese New Year's decorations, or other ceremonial decorations.
There were also local men and women who made ceremonial decorations with simple materials like bamboo, paper, and straw. Their crafts turned an ordinary village place into a wondrous space, but these special, decorated environments exist only for a short time. This is the basis of what I call ephemeral aesthetics.
On the other hand, jewelry is a stable long-lasting form of body adornment fashioned from metal. My work combines these two approaches; ephemeral forms in metal using minimum soldering, twisting, and folding. Metal is such a supple material, and it responds best to the most simple approach."
Through her collections
Sosho,
Oru,
Wreath, and
Coil Works, Kawanabe takes viewers on a vivid exploration of the soft, voluptuous curves of Japanese calligraphy, nature motifs, and the anatomy of a wire coil.
"When a wire winds to a shape of coil, it develops a variety of expressive forms," she explains. "Almost inevitably though it is the wire itself which seems to make its own decision as to which way it will transform shifting its balance spontaneously. The process seems like a growth of actual living form."
A veteran in the field for nearly 30 years, her powerful compositions garnered the
Japan Jewellery Exhibition's Japan Jewellery Prize, and the
Japan Jewellery Art Competition's Award of Excellence.
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Photo 1 (top right): Anodized Aluminum and Silver Soyogi Breeze Neckpiece from the Sosho Collection
Photo 2 (bottom left): Patinated Brass Orange Cascade Neckpiece from the Oru Collection
Today we visit Playland Amusement Park, located in Rye, New York; the only government-owned-and-operated amusement park.
The 13-mile long and 8-mile wide Sea of Galilee, in northern Israel, is actually a freshwater lake known to Israelis as Lake Kinneret.
The Sante Fe Botanical Garden, located in New Mexico, is a vivid, natural landscape. 
During the 17th century, notable Dutch writers and scholars, such as PC Hooft and Joost van den Vondel, used the Netherlands' Muiden Castle as a temporary place to kick back and discuss ideas. The Netherlands is also the home of featured jewelry designer Marijke de Goey.
The Isamu Taniguchi Japanese Garden is one of the many highlights of Texas' Zilker Botanical Garden.
We are taking two trips today. Our first is to Canada's breathtaking Butchart Gardens, and at 105-years-old, it remains one of the country's most beautiful natural areas. We then travel to the Masada fortress in Israel exploring the preserved ruins of a Byzantine church, and an enormous bathhouse that once belonged to King Herod.
