Jewelry Designer and Metalsmith
April Higashi is a Bay area jeweler and designer, who is recognized for her work in painted enamel and mixed metals with high karat gold. She earned a BFA from the University of San Francisco, and after a brief stint in the corporate fashion world, April opened her own company. The second order she received was for an amount well into six figures, and her career as an independent designer and artist was launched.
18k Gold Biwa Pearl Ring
Maximum impact with 18k gold.
Biwa coin pearl ring.
Pearl is 12-13mm.
$1570
Born and raised near Salt Lake City, Higashi has always been engaged in making things. Her grandfather, an artist, took her for walks in the mountains, where he would draw, and he was an important influence on her life. By the age of eight, she showed a strong and creatively independent spirit.
Circle Shield Earrings
Oxidized silver frame earrings topped with enamel.
18k gold wires.
$365
Higashi aims to create wearable art that is both comfortable and uniquely beautiful. Her appreciation for wabi-sabi forms - an aesthetic described as beauty that is imperfect, impermanent, or incomplete - has inspired her to invent new techniques, combining Japanese influences with those of modern design and textiles.
Kombacha Earrings
Set in oxidized silver with 18k gold accents.
Black enamel with 24k embedded gold.
Kombacha is Japanese for squash.
18k gold ear wires.
$440
Higashi paints, textures, and etches her enamel surfaces to give them depth and dimension. She experiments with heat and layering to create texture and translucency, firing some pieces as many as thirty times. She accents her work with darkened silver, high-karat gold, and precious gemstones to give the pieces an earthy modern feel.
April's career continues to expand into diverse areas. She does consulting work, is employed as a buyer for a Paris-based clothing business, and is art director for the Jerry Garcia Estate.
Artist Statement
I use enamel to create rich color fields, markings, and textures. By creating layers of glass, I can create translucent paintings. In the process of heating glass in the kiln, there is always an unpredictable element at play. I am attracted to the depth, textures, translucency, and bleeding that occur during firing.
In a sense, I am marking imperfections in layers to create beauty and balance, by utilizing the unique properties of fusing glass with metal. I look to create a simple sense of beauty and leave a timeless imprint for the audience's reflection. My jewelry represents my aesthetic, which is both contemporary and ancient.
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Related Entries:
April Flower Jewelry Contest - 01 April 2006
April Jewelry Contest - 19 April 2006
April Contest Almost Over! - 27 April 2006
Jewelry Career Resources - 08 August 2006
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