Takeshi Uchida

Jewelery craftsman. A First-class Precious Metal Accessory Technician*. JJA (Japan jewelry design award), National Skills Grand Prix winner.

*A person qualified by a state examination as a certified technician

His compact atelier in Niigata is small enough that it can be overlooked by people walking past.

However, once you enter his atelier, it feels like you have stepped into a treasure box filled with all the tools and equipment necessary for making jewelry.

There is not only a file, a fret saw, a cold chisel, and multi-colored glassy glaze used for traditional enamel (cloisonné), but also a laser welding machine, a microscope, and a 3D printer.

He creates Shinko Studio’s collections that is required the highest skills and one of a kind works like custom orders.

It goes without saying that sophisticated skills and care are put into his work, but there is no comparison to the beauty of the smooth lines when the jewelry is finished. He not only uses design illustrations, but he also uses the true “feelings” that come from viewing the work in person.

Using these feelings,
he makes delicate changes to the shape, sharpens the edge and creates a smooth form.

When he is in the final finishing process and it comes time to sharpen the edge, he has an internal struggle on how to balance sharpness with usability.

Straddling this boundary, he forms a beautiful line.

The valuation of a craftsman tends to come from their technique, but it is important for people to create comfortable lines that change with the times.

Coming back to the fundamental principle of design to “solve societal problems and propose new solutions,” isn’t that in essence what it means to make things?