He is launching unique pieces made of precious metals.

Give any friend a story

As a subscriber, you have 10 gifts to send every month. Anyone can read what you share.

Tokyo-For years, jewelry designer Yuta Ishihara has been thinking about creating things that can last a lifetime or longer.

"When I was in my teens, I started to think about the fact that I hope things can last longer," he said. "I decided that if I create something, I hope it will continue."

His latest project, Yutai, a high-end jewelry brand, embodies this goal. The one-of-a-kind pieces are made of durable precious metals (he only uses gold or platinum and platinum), and some styles give new life to the vintage settings made in the prefecture where he grew up.

35-year-old Mr. Ishihara was born and raised in Yamanashi Prefecture, the most prolific jewellery in Japan. However, his family planted flowers, and when he was a child, he often dug up ceramic fragments and obsidian blocks from the prehistoric Jomon period (14,000 BC to 300 BC) in the ground around the flower nursery. This is a naturally occurring volcanic glass, which is a common find in this area.

"It really impressed me because they came from thousands of years ago," he said. "These things will last, and we now know them because of how long they last, because of the material."

Unlike many of his classmates, Mr. Ishihara decided to leave the county for higher education. "At the time, I discussed with my family and we decided that there would be more opportunities in Tokyo," he said. "If I go to school in Yamanashi, I will stay there. I don't think things will be the way they are now."

In 2008, he graduated from a three-year course at Hiko Mizuno Jewelry Academy in Tokyo, and founded his first brand Shihara in 2010. The brand is now sold in stores around the world and online, using a minimalist approach to jewelry, incorporating fashionable geometric shapes and buckles or pillars into the design.

Chika Wakatsuki, curator of the Yamanashi Jewelry Museum, wrote in an email, “His jewellery has a simple and sturdy appearance that makes the wearer stand out. No matter from which angle it looks, it looks beautiful, clean and stoic. I think it It is a design that is good at connecting people and space."

Mr. Ishihara said that when he designed Shihara's works, he often considered a very different series-and then the pandemic gave him a chance to actually develop a series. “For Shihara, we use materials that can be copied so that we can produce parts on demand,” he said. "But for Yutai, what you see is what you get."

"Material comes first, design comes second," Mr. Ishihara said. "I only have one piece of some things, so some materials are unique." For example, he found some golden pearls from the Philippine Sea, but only enough to make three necklaces (US$14,200 each). "I like this color because it is very close to gold," he said.

Yutai will be officially launched in the United States at Bergdorf Goodman in New York next month, and Japan will be launched at Dover Street Market in Tokyo in February (he said the dates must be staggered because the number is limited).

Yumi Shin, the chief businessman of Bergdorf Goodman, wrote in an email that the store “has always appreciated the simplicity, thoughtful and multifaceted design of Yuta Ishihara's jewelry brand Shihara.

“With his high-end jewelry brand Yutai,” she added, “he continues to explore and promote the delicate balance between functionality and beauty, using semi-precious stones and precious stones, and subtly splicing and blending gems together to give each piece of work Unique beauty and depth."

Some of the Yutai works designed by Mr. Ishihara have unusual effects. They are made by artisans in Yamanashi and Tokyo.

For example, as Ms. Shin pointed out, some fish-shaped rings and pendants incorporate gems (US$2,100 to US$3,700). "As you can see from the back, there are two different stones. As Mr. Ishihara said, he showed rings that match lemon quartz and blue topaz. "Yellow reflects on blue and blends together, more or less Become a color, a kind of stone. "

The series also includes segmented necklaces, which combine gemstones (such as jade or rubies that have been hammered and polished into a pearl shape) into single-stranded pearl necklaces.

"I like to mix different elements, which is also to change the appearance of traditional pearl necklaces by adding different materials," he said. The buckle hidden in the chain also contrasts with the shape of the pearl and is secured by a keyhole-shaped mechanism. The blue chalcedony version starts at $4,900, and the chalcedony version starts at $10,300.

Mr. Ishihara first designed the Sectional necklace in 2012, and has sold some at Dover Street Market in London and Tokyo over the years, including the jade necklace that Rihanna bought in Tokyo. However, for now, he will only sell them as part of the new product line.

Yutai also includes the Revive ring, which showcases cocktail ring settings made by Yamanashi craftsmen in the 1980s. This was the period of Japan's "bubble economy", and many people wore jewelry that is now considered flashy. "I bought these settings at the wholesale market in Yamanashi Prefecture," Mr. Ishihara said. "They are either sold as is, or sometimes sold without gems, without respect for their craftsmanship."

Initially, the central gem of the ring was surrounded by baguette-cut diamonds in the ballerina's setting (so called because the hard small gem circle resembled a ballerina's tutu). Most of them are designed and made by hand, "most likely in Yamanashi Prefecture, even if there is no way to track it," he said. "Due to the development of CAD (Computer Aided Design), this work no longer exists and there is no longer a demand in the market."

Mr. Ishihara said that he deconstructed the rings to “make them more modern” and replaced the original narrow band with the wider band that he prefers now. In the event that certain central gems were lost, he only used the empty setting as a decorative element for the new band.

"Compared to the gems themselves, I prefer the outside setting," he said. "This is where we can appreciate the craftsmanship the most. I really want to emphasize this point."

The designer said that he hopes the works in his Yutai series will achieve his goal: they are durable.

He said: "Things in the world usually come and go and rarely last." "But for jewelry, its materials and craftsmanship are still valuable, even if we don't know the name of the person who made it."