New York - Yasuko Azuma’s love of fabrics particularly vintage Kimono patterns her affinity for the old world charm of fans and Ranma (the pierced work on sliding doors in old homes in Japan) and the refined movement she strived for during her years as a dancer all inform her collections. These influences show up in the motifs and graceful lines of Yasuko’s designs from the dainty cut outs that adorn the sides of a ring shank to the leaves and vines and flowers that bloom on a medallion or flow from earrings. “I’m very nostalgic about my childhood growing up in Japan and playing in my grandmother’s garden” explains Yasuko. “I can recreate in my mind the botanicals the rocks the hanging lanterns and the way in which the branches seemed to billow and flow.” Today Yasuko interprets these images into highly wearable and ultimately pretty pieces of jewelry.