Platinum A' Design Award Winner 2022
Fukutani's Miracle of Birth Choker operates within a rich symbolic vocabulary connecting jewelry design to universal narratives of creation, transformation, and the cyclical renewal of life. The central sculptural elements, with their twisted, spiraling forms suggesting seed pods at the moment of opening or embryonic forms emerging into existence, encode the archetypal imagery of birth and becoming that the title explicitly invokes. The tetrachromatic palette carries layered cultural meanings across traditions, gold universally symbolizing solar energy, divine radiance, and immortal value, white representing purity, light, and spiritual illumination, brown connecting to earth, fertility, and the nurturing ground from which life springs, while black suggests the mysterious void from which creation emerges and the protective darkness of the womb. The circular chain links above employ the mandala-like geometry of the ring, ancient emblem of eternity, wholeness, and the unbroken cycle of existence, their interlocking arrangement speaking to interconnection and the chain of being linking generations. The transitional zone where geometric circles give way to organic spirals may be read as the threshold between the rational and the vital, between cultural order and natural abundance. The spiral forms themselves constitute one of humanity's oldest sacred symbols, appearing across Neolithic, Celtic, and countless other traditions as emblems of cosmic energy, the journey of the soul, and the dynamic principle of growth. The abundant use of brilliant-cut stones, each a tiny cosmos of refracted light, multiplies the symbolism of illumination and the precious nature of existence itself. The choker format, designed to embrace the throat, the seat of voice and breath, suggests the intimate relationship between adornment and the vital force of life. This design invites contemplation of how luxury objects can transcend mere decoration to become talismans encoding profound human truths about creation, continuity, and the miraculous nature of coming into being.
In the natural world, the spiral shape is a special existence that feels the mystery of life. Many spiral shapes can be found in galaxies, typhoons, whirlpools, plants, shells, works of art, etc. In addition, human DNA is also composed of a double helix shape, and 99.9 percent of its structure is common. It is said that he was born in this world with a completely different personality and appearance with only the remaining 0.1 percent difference. In connection with the modeling beauty of the birth of such life, the tone of emotions was expressed in Choker.