Yoko Izawa

Born: 1966
Place of Birth: Kyoto, Japan

Since her MA studies at the Royal College of Art, London, Yoko Izawa has been exploring concepts of ambiguity and formal material constraints. Now based in Japan, her jewellery uses a range of non-precious materials to establish a series of tensions between inside and outside, strength and delicacy and between certainty and ambiguity. Izawa's veiled jewellery series, serves to express her interpretation of Japanese cultural values and religious spirituality. Izawa was shortlisted for the Jerwood Applied Arts Prize in 2007.

'When immersed in creative activities I feel that the sense of beauty and value within my culture surfaces and moulds my work. For my means of expression, I feel more comfortable when the work has a quality of ambiguity or transience. My interest has been for some time in containing, covering, or wrapping things. The search has been for something elusive. The function and material nature of jewellery does not concern me as much as the presence and feeling of an object. Veiled jewellery reflects my assumption that although certainty is often required in modern society, ambiguous expression has been the most distinctive characteristic found in Japanese values and religious beliefs.' - Yoko Izawa