ICHIKAWA Youna (born 1988, Ibaraki)

Nichigetsu-shōshin
“The Sun, the Moon and the Stars”

Rinkō-ami, circular plaiting in arcs

Trained at the Ōita Prefectural Bamboo Craft Training Center and later under Tanabe Chikuunsai IV, Ichikawa Youna combines technical rigor with great formal sensitivity.

The title Nichigetsu-shōshin refers to the sun, the moon, the stars and, by extension, all phenomena of the universe. Made in rinkō-ami, a circular plaiting technique based on arcs, the work unfolds a fine, open and almost immaterial structure, evoking a celestial vault. Between transparency, spiral movement and the depth of lacquer, it makes bamboo the support for a cosmic meditation, where emptiness becomes a space of union with the world.