European and American high jewelry is said to be characterized by its dynamic design and craftsmanship. On the other hand, Japanese jewelry has a design that embodies a ``delicate'' sensibility and a refined technique of ``precision.'' The brilliance of Japanese high jewelry, which is considered both art and craft, creates jewelry that seems to penetrate the soul. Premium Japan will introduce carefully selected brands.

Enamel techniques modeled after Lalique to achieve the ultimate in delicacy

The distinctive feature of ``In The Garden'' jewelry, as you can see at a glance, is the stained glass-like workmanship that allows light to pass through. This is an enamel technique called plique ajour, which became famous in the works of René Lalique, a representative artist of Art Nouveau. There are many different methods of enameling around the world, and in Japan, wired cloisonné, transparent cloisonné, and shōtai cloisonné are used to draw patterns on vases and small boxes, but the techniques are slightly different from those in the West.

The final result of jewelry depends on how delicately the metalwork is done before the enamel is applied. First, a watermark pattern is created on the precious metal using a scroll saw according to the design. Once the empty frame is completed by scraping off the excess metal, a cloisonné glaze is applied and fired at a high temperature in a furnace. Once baked, take it out, scrape off the excess glaze, and repeat the process over and over again. As the number of colors increases, the number of firings increases, and parts break during firing, or cracks appear in the finished parts, making it a demanding job until the very end.

Kunio Nakajima, the representative of Knicks Factory, was born into a family of ornament makers and served as the head of the production department at Chiso Jewelry Design Studio. In 1992, he saw the ``René Lalique Exhibition'' held at the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, and was so shocked that he started reading literature and researching techniques. Furthermore, he looked at the ceramics of Japanese cloisonne artists Yasuyuki Namikawa and Sosuke Tokawa, and thoroughly pursued their expression methods and techniques. “In the Garden” gained acclaim overseas, and in 2001, sales began in Europe based in Brussels, Belgium.In 2013, Nakajima became a member of the “Russian Academy of Arts”. Awarded the title of honorary member. This technique became popular in France, but today there is no place in the world where you can create plique-à-jour as delicately as ``in the garden'', and it is comparable to antique jewelry. It is a work that will remain even 100 years from now.

(Titles omitted)

In The Garden
knicks factory
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