Behind the Design: Yukie Hata

"Jewelry lover and gem enthusiast by birth, jewelry designer and GIA Graduate Gemologist by choice. The beauty of life is in the tiny details." - Yukie Hata

Yukie Hata’s philosophy towards design is indicative of an entire profession that is so often overlooked. Precious metals and gemstones carry an expectation of beauty. In turn, beautiful jewelry is often simplified into an unquantifiable and presupposed aesthetic.

This disregards the tireless work, research, and education of designers like Hata. Blending innate talent and creativity with scientific knowledge and an understanding of the historical significance of design, Hata sheds some light on her process in designing our Genevieve collection.

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Drawing inspiration from 3 of our most popular custom ring designs, I was given free reign to create 10 versions of each under one condition. As described, the focal point for each was to embody what it means to look "delicate." From there, I began to sculpt, or mentally visualize the pieces, thus leading me to also incorporate details so minute, so "intricate," – I knew I would use these two cornerstones to begin building the entire collection. So I began to look for references in supporting this role. And I began to obsess over everything from flowers and leaves to lace and princesses to stained glass and 18th century carriages.

Musicians, writers, sculptors, chefs—anyone that occupies a creative space will tell you that sometimes you find inspiration and other times, inspiration finds you. And when that happens, it changes things.

The delicate and the intricate began to uncouple, with the former losing ground each day to the latter. For example, I started shifting my focus from one to the other when carefully tracing every outline on a photo of a stained glass window, using our Jewelry CAD designing program. 

   As this transition continued, I began to gravitate away from foliage and increasingly towards nature and textiles to help my vision come to fruition. The princesses, the carriages, they weren’t fragile but organized layers of complexity. It was the concept and elegance of lace that developed for me an evolution in narration, jolting my creativity into gear.
 

And then I took a step back and had that rare "Aha!" moment. I was staring so long at stained glass and church cathedrals, princesses and carriages, lace and flower arrangements. I realized that staring right back at me were at all the components of a wedding. To me, this was no coincidence, but a seep into my subconscious. 

To see Yukie Hata’s full collection for Fire & Brilliance, see here.