Underwater Flora and Fauna,” Tiffany & Co store window on Fifth Avenue in New York, designed by Mariko Kusumoto, summer 2023.
Mariko Kusumoto was born in Japan in 1967. Polyester jewelry, created by Mariko Kusumoto using the innovative technique she developed, is distinguished by a rare delicacy and mystery: as if a bouquet of translucent sea anemones or jellyfish made of polyester of different colors are attached to a thin steel cord. These forms resemble sea creatures, shiny and hollow, and some of them have additional fixed or movable elements inside.
Installation by Mariko Kusumoto at Pier 2 Art Center in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
Japanese artist Mariko Kusumoto creates completely unique sculptures and accessories that resemble balloons. She uses the thinnest translucent chiffon, heating it to the “right” temperature, allowing the material to remember the shape that was intended. The works are then formed into sculptural or wearable objects.
The soft captivity of these balls can contain various figures. These can be smaller copies of spherical figures, sea creatures and cars. The playful shapes of these figures match the vibrant colors that Mariko chooses for her work.
Interior decoration.Interior composition.Marine composition.Interior composition.Brooch.Brooch.Marine composition Brooch.Brooch.Jellyfish and corals.Brooch.Black Brooch.Brooch in milky tones.Ring Underwater pink flower.Necklace made of underwater plants.Underwater mushrooms necklace in milky tones.Necklace with a pendant in the form of coral jellyfish.Necklace in a nautical theme.The Seascape 1 necklace is now in the permanent collection of the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2022.The brooch In White is now in the permanent collection of the Museum of Decorative Arts in Paris.Mariko and Jean Paul Gaultier at Paris Fashion Week on January 23, 2019.Seascape Necklace, 2019, from the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum.
