KanKan ‒ Kirakira ‒ DokiDoki The jewelry class of the Kobe Design University invited by Die Neue Sammlung – The Design Museum

KanKan ‒ KiraKira ‒ DokiDoki in onomatopoeia these words mean the sound of the hammer when making jewelry ‒ looking on jewelry ‒ the feeling when wearing jewelry.
Onomatopoeia is a broad term. It tries to verbalize emotions and tones ‒ situations and actions in one word, in one expression. It is completely irrelevant whether the feelings, sounds or circumstances are generated by individuals or by objects.
In Japan, onomatopoeia is a very familiar and essential form of communication. In the Japanese thesaurus are around 4,500 onomatopoeic words.
These terms are emerged from a desire to share the same feelings with others. In recent years, they have been prominently used in Japanese manga and animations, which are also popular overseas, especially in manga where they are indispensable.
Manga and animation were once considered a subculture in Japan, but today they have become integral parts of Japanese mainstream culture worldwide. This exhibition also reflects our aspiration that Japanese contemporary jewelry can become a mainstream culture that penetrates the world like manga and animation.

This exhibition unites contemporary jewelry (which is also a communication tool) and onomatopoeia (which supports the transmission of feelings), both of which have something in common in the idea of “transmitting feelings.” We hope that through the artist’s selected onomatopoeia, everyone can receive and appreciate the message conveyed by the creator’s emotions and jewelry.

On display are works by students and graduates of the university’s school class, selected by their professors Fumiki Taguchi, Itto Mishima, Takashi Kojima und Mari Ishikawa.

Students and graduates:
Chihiro Hanayama, Kako Shimoonoda,
Kazunori Kodani, Rio Yamamoto, Nagisa Yamada, Natsuki Takeuchi, Kenta Kanetsuki, Momoe Taguchi, Jingyuan Chen, Hayate Miyazaki, Yoshiki Yamada,
Kim Jeeyun, Mona Kanda, Moe Kinugawa,
Daiki Nakagawara, Amane Nagase,  Wang Dan, Haruna Shiki, Mizuki Fujimoto, Hong Ma, Nan Jin, Ema Yamazoe, Shi Ruining, Sakura Nagaya

Opening: March 01, 2024, 7 pm
Press conference: March 01, 2024, 11 am