The ancient Japanese art transformed into fine jewelry by Gimel ♦ ︎
She is a kind, 80-year-old Japanese woman who lives and works in a small town in southern Japan, Ashiya. She is Kaouru Kay Akihara, but the name of her little Maison, Gimel is more famous. Although small, this studio-workshop has become famous for its refined jewelry creations, ranging from pieces inspired by the delicate Japanese pictorial art to those with a more Western style.
The designer, Akihara, received an extensive education in her youth, which included many traditional Japanese arts.
From the difficult art of writing, Shodō, to the ability to compose a space even with voids as well as with the volumes: the particular Japanese sensibility is applied to his creations. The designer began her career in the seventies, involving only the best craftsmen to create her jewels. An example of Gimel’s work is the Lotus brooch, with diamonds and garnet sold by Christie’s. Or a pendant necklace and brooch designed like a flower, centered on an oval-shaped purple diamond, oval-shaped, weighing about 1.39 carats, inside a pavé surrounded by petals wrapped with pink and colorless diamonds in brilliant cut, accompanied from a ladybug pin with cabochon sapphire and brilliant cut diamonds, mounted in platinum and 18k yellow gold.
A special Jewelry exhibition will be held from February 19 to June 19 2022 at the National Museum of Nature and Science in Ueno, Tokyo. The exhibition features around 200 types of rough and polished stones. But also 60 works by Gimel, including funny brooches.
