Sayumi Yokouchi was born in Tokyo, Japan and now lives in Brooklyn, New York where she maintains her studio. Sayumi began her studies in jewelry at Cabrillo college in Santa Cruz, California. She received her MFA with honors from SUNY New Paltz, and BFA from California College of The Arts. She has participated in many galleries and museum exhibitions nationally and internationally. She has taught and lectured as visiting artists at many places, currently teaches at the 92nd street Y in New York city. (Sienna gallery)
« My jewelry is a place of discovery; a reflection of the world in which I inhabit and my material of choices are response to my daily experiences and common belongings in the community. I’m curious about the way we adapt common objects in the domestic environment and how the objects become precious and memorable in our life experiences. I am fascinated by inherent transformative qualities of seemingly banal and common place objects, and isolating the moment when materials progress from their original form into something more beautiful and precious.«
Sayumi Yokouchi – « There is little to choose between them #2″ Rings – « There is little to choose between them #1″ Ring — « There is little to choose between them #1″ Ring
Sayumi Yokouchi – « Hydrangea » Necklace - « Fruity Pebbles Necklace #1″
Sayumi Yokouchi- Bee Hive Brooch — Fiori Brooch
Sayumi Yokouchi - Necklace (detail)
Sayumi Yokouchi- Kyohanabi Brooch
« I find beauty in industrial materials, and posses a fascination for using them when making a piece of jewelry. Being born and raised in the big city of Tokyo Japan, and now living in New York City, I’ve come to see urban life as a kind of landscape resembling an enormous field of flowers where the natural and unnatural grow and live together. New buildings appear in the place of old ones and people continually come and go, much like new flowers coming into bloom season after season.
New life becomes old quickly in the urban environment. Old to new, new to old — echoed everywhere from computer systems, to houses, mone ìy, fashion trends and even personal relationships; all of which perpetuate the continuous and vast urban cycle.
In this respect, I see my jewelry as an empty field, wherein I plant my own kind of flowers and create my own form of urban nature within the field. My flowers are blooming one by one, always metaphorically contrasting the synthetic (urban) and precious (country). My material choices are my responses to the world I inhabit, and ornamentation is a result of my purest desire.
My approach to work is an endless experimentation with materials and process. I search for a boundary-free territory within the field of jewelry making, and thus, I find a great deal of pleasure when I find myself deeply connected to my chosen materials.«
Sayumi Yokouchi – brooch (The Plastic show)
Sayumi Yokouchi – « White Dish » (The Plastic show)
Sayumi Yokouchi – « Orange Dish » (The Plastic show)
Sayumi Yokouchi « Ptelea Trifoliata » Brooches
Sayumi Yokouchi – Urban Topographia Brooch #5 – silver, palladium white gold, colored wire, nylon thread, paint
Sayumi Yokouchi – Bloom Brooch 1 – silver, 14kt gold, plastic bottle caps, silk thread
Sayumi Yokouchi – Brooch, Lichen Familia Series (& detail)
