![]() Zohra: Working with hands encompasses a practice of patience, perseverance, and there’s a chance that mistakes would occur along the way. There are no right or wrong decisions in the practice of the ceramicist photographed here is the Onna House mobile and a ceramic lamp installation by Nishikawa Image: Courtesy of Yuko Nishikawa CHEESE SLICER WIRE HOW TOWorking with the furniture design industry taught me how to design and compose lighting fixtures, the hardware and wiring, and now I combine those technical skills and understanding of the construction with the sculpture forms that I make. I wanted to explore the form that shows the hands of its makers, and I think this fascination encouraged me to explore more sculpted forms. On the contrary, what I wanted was not the clean options but something that only I can make, which has the evidence of hand on it. But it was for a brand, which had a specific style approach, was high-end, really clean-crisp-shiny-don't leave the fingerprints kind of-furniture. I learnt a lot from craftsmen and artisans about making objects from ideas. So then I started getting into furniture, which is, if it was a chair, then I can sit on it, play with prototypes and actually feel the materials and forms and modify it, work with manufacturers and craftsmen, and that was real fun. I was part of doing the drawings but I didn't get to experience the actual space. Yuko: While working with interior design offices, I didn't get a sense of my involvement in the final project. What was it that you found missing in the practice that brought you back to your passion, in creating things with hands? Also, what inspired the transition from furniture to objects? Zohra: You studied interior design in New York and then practiced furniture design for over a decade. In my process, everything that is a part of the process and that leads to the next, and any decision I make, I don't consider it as a right or wrong decision.īefore getting her hands on objects, Yuko worked with interior design offices for over a decade Image: Courtesy of Yuko Nishikawa I don't think I am limiting myself to certain materials right now, but I think that renting the studio here in Brooklyn, and starting playing with clay again was probably the beginning of creating art for me. Clay is not the only material that I use right now. So I would just go to the studio before my daytime job, played with it, practiced throwing on the reel, and that's how I started making my own artworks. Clay is such an inexpensive material and you can spend as much time on it as you like, unless you fire it, and you can recycle the material over and over again. While working with ceramic with my grandmother, people did not allow me to throw clay onto the reel because I was too young, and that convinced me to take up the skill at some point in my life. And then ceramic was the next thing that I wanted to do. I took some glassblowing classes, and did woodworking, painting and metalwork just for fun. I played with different kinds of materials. I started picking it up about seven years ago when I rented a communal studio space in Brooklyn. But then I stopped doing it for many years. It was like my fun summer activity, of just following her and playing with the clay. My grandmother was teaching ceramics in her local studio. I played with clay as a kid when I was maybe in the second or third grade. When I was young, I was always using my hand to make things. My interest evolved gradually from my childhood. I think I just decided this was my path, or this was how I am going to spend my time. Yuko Nishikawa: I don't think there was a definitive moment. Zohra Khan: If you look back to the start of things, do you recall a definitive memory when you held clay in your hands or tended it to make something? Here are edited excerpts from my virtual rendezvous with Nishikawa - a Japanese lighting designer, ceramicist, and installation artist who lives and practices her craft in Brooklyn. Yuko Nishikawa creates a fantastical environment with her colorful, textural lively forms here she is with her collection You See a Sheep which constitutes handmade ceramic chandeliers Image: Courtesy of Yuko Nishikawa ![]()
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