Last month, Mikimoto unveiled its new high jewelry collection, a magnificent showcase of pearl and gemstone pieces, all corresponding to the luxury jeweler’s chosen theme: “The Japanese Sense of Beauty.”
Together, the jewels present a uniquely Japanese vision of beauty brought to life in a literal sense by supermodel Ai Tominaga, the perfect embodiment of Mikimoto’s aesthetic. The pieces also draw on the country’s landscape features and florals, while celebrating its most iconic art forms, from kimonos and woodblock prints to all manner of traditional Wagara patterns.
Large brooches—as big as lily pads—lead the collection, and they look divine when they’re perched off-center on a neckline or when a few of them are clustered at the tip of the shoulder.
Here’s one decorated with three motifs: a fan, the moon, and the pink and purple blossoms that spring forth from Japanese clover.
Another, with its rush of cascading diamond and gemstone fringe, is inspired by artist Hokusai’s depictions of waterfalls in his famous ukiyo-e landscapes.
Chrysanthemums, an important symbol in Japanese culture, are invoked in the two brooches and ring shown below.
The bloom’s petals are captured in a famous Wagara pattern known as mujinagiku, and are expertly expressed in a light, airy openwork high jewelry necklace.
This suite is an homage to the bokashi technique, used in some 19th-century Japanese woodblock prints, that blurs pigments to create a gradation of light-to-dark shades.
And finally, an iconic Japanese wave pattern known as seigaiha used in Japanese kimonos surfaces in the magnificent creations below.
Top: This brooch, made in 18k white and yellow gold with peridot, sapphires, garnets, diamonds, and coral inlay takes inspiration from a multilayered ceremonial kimono of the Heian period, as illustrated in The Tale of Genji, a 11th-century Japanese literary classic written by the noblewoman and lady-in-waiting Murasaki Shikibu. Price on request; Mikimoto
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