We had the distinct pleasure to interview award winning designer Ayuko Sakurai about their original and creative Bracelet design work. Ayuko Sakurai is an award-winning fashion designer, that makes our world a better place with their original bracelet works.
Ayuko Sakurai ("AS") answered Design Interview ("DI") questions about their award-winning work Secret Garden Bracelet. Interview questions prepared by Frank Scott.
AS : Practice of chasing techniques and tool making, the technique which was introduced to me during my graduate studies. I was fascinated by the rich variety of textures and shapes that small tools and hammers could add to a metal surface. The design idea came through the process of making tools based on the images in my sketchbook.
AS : While I was in schools, I tried to learn different techniques as much as I could. For this work, I focused on the traditional technique, chasing and I used line tools and embossing tools that I made from steel rods. I wanted to check how these tools could create two dimensional and three dimensional elements on metal.
AS : After the notification email of this award, I pulled this piece from piles of boxes that I sent from the US when I returned to Japan. Then I cleaned it to take photographs and brought it with me to Italy(yes, I wore it at the ceremony!). I think I will keep it until at least I have my own workspace because it will remind me of where I came from and what I have achieved.
AS : I remember this bracelet as one of the assignments to submit at a final critique. The assignment could be a piece in any metal, style and size. First I sketched this design as a headpiece, and one of my professors told me to try something different. After I decided to make a bracelet, I spent at least several weeks to learn chasing technique and to make tools. This project took perhaps two months, but chasing still interests me.
AS : This was one of the school assignments to help students learn new techniques and styles. I tended to make detail oriented designs, and this heavy decoration was a good practice of hammering and chasing.
AS : Not only this design, but I have been a single player who make all works by myself. It will be interesting to see if working with someone works for me.
AS : My interest in chasing technique and my obsession with intricate patterns.
AS : What I have encountered in the past and my memories are often rendered into my works. One example is rose windows of Gothic architecture; when I sketched the designs and drew outlines on metal, I imagined the interactions between rose windows and people, such as those who made them, admired them, and got inspired from them. I often collect different designs and ideas in my sketchbook, and this shows in my works.
AS : Since it was an assignment of metalsmithing course, I did not have a customer. But if anyone is interested, perhaps that person will be the target.
AS : Perhaps I can write a paper about this design like college essays. Long story short, I will highlight the originality. It was new to me to make something with this technique and tools made for it. Plus, the stone riveted to the metal surface, was created from my question, “how far can I go to make this piece from scratches?” Instead of minerals and precious stones, I made a stone by fusing glass to copper. This also makes it easier to recycle the work in the future; I can remove the riveted stone and melt the brass sheet.
AS : I was not going to give it a title at first. However, when this piece was included in an exhibition at school, my professor from Taiwan advised me to name it. He told me that he sometimes asked his friend(who wrote poems) to title his work because a title was an important component to tell the audience the artist’s view towards the work. Then, he closely observed my bracelet and cheerfully said, “I see many flowers…How about Secret Garden?” So, this bracelet is Secret Garden. Now, I start to see his point because I used to plan to name my works like “Study of Color I” or “Untitled I,” but these titles do not speak to the audience and will confuse artists after they go up to “Untitled ZZ.”
AS : Hammers and hand-made chasing tools.
AS : How it reflects on my experiences of living in Europe, and intense hand fabrication.
AS : No, it was an individual project.
AS : Tools and inspiration(I see chasing as a technique filled with metalsmithing-related technology, such as heat-control, application of mild steel, hammers…).
AS : I remember looking at designs of rose windows to understand their characteristics.
AS : The balance between time and my want of practice. I tend to make complicated, “busy” designs by adding multiple components. It often means that a work needs a certain amount of time and a lot of practice. Because this work was an assignment, I kept reminding me of the due date and when I had to switch from researching and sketching(or even practicing) to making the actual work.
AS : An email from the design competition was delivered on 01/29/2019. At that time, I was depressed because I did not have money and job after I returned from the U.S. where my boss broke a promise to give me a working visa. I felt worthless and its pain took away my confidence, drive, and self-esteem. Then, I received this email asking me to submit my work. After I double checked that this organization and sender existed(then I thought it might not a phishing attack), I sent a thank you email and asked for details about submission. So finally, I can say this after three years(it is 01/29/2022 today); thank you, Ms. Linda Clark. You will never know how much your email encouraged me.
AS : As a student, I was in the cycle of planning, making, presenting, critiquing, and photo shooting(some students added submitting their works outside their studio and selling, but I only had a few experiences). Within this cycle, I started to get a sense of what a project required from its start to finish and where I could find necessary information. Art making usually brings me something new, so how/where to find information about designs and techniques is a skill.
AS : I wish if I can say something cool at the end, but I am not that kind of person. Thank you to those who read this interview, and please watch me where I am going next!
