THAW Brooch

At winter's end, the firmly closed surface of snow begins to gently soften. Snow bathed in sunlight sparkles as if scattered with countless tiny lenses. "THAW" is an English word meaning the melting of snow. This is a series that captures in silver foil cloisonné the quiet yet powerful moment of transition from frozen winter to spring.

Thin silver foil is applied to a copper plate, and vitreous glaze is fired on top. While conventional cloisonné shows the metal color as-is, in silver foil cloisonné the underlying silver foil reflects softly through the glaze. By combining transparent and milk-white glazes, subtle gradations are given to this reflection. The expression that changes with each shift in angle evokes the momentary beauty of melting snow droplets rolling while containing light.

From color mixing to firing, every process is handcrafted one piece at a time in our Tokyo atelier. Even using the same glaze, no two fired pieces turn out identical. This too resembles how the expression of snow melting differs slightly each year.

A form where circles of various sizes nestle together in sequence. Melted snow drips drop by drop, each drop drawn to the next, eventually creating small streams—this rhythm is captured in the brooch's silhouette. Wear one casually, or layer two or three together. These are cloisonné pin brooches that can be enjoyed with various styling combinations.