Kumiko 04

The fourth figure in the kumiko series. After three earlier variations, this one closes the set — same wooden lattice tradition, one more arrangement.

Kumiko design has been refined for hundreds of years in the workshops of Japanese cabinet-makers and shoji builders. Every figure has its own name and its own history of light, shadow, and assembly. The patterns drawn here are flat translations of work meant to be built in wood and stood up against the sun.

At jewelry scale one figure becomes a pendant face. The same drawing scales up to a screen, a wall inset, or a translucent panel.