Yuki Ferdinandsen

Yuki Ferdinandsen is a metalsmith artist living and working in Denmark, whose refined, minimalist works embody the aesthetics and traditional craftsmanship of her native Japan as distilled through a Danish lens. Working primarily in silver, she draws inspiration from nature, in particular the spirals of the Fibonacci sequence. Ferdinandsen’s work demonstrates a profound relationship to her material; the organic forms are articulated with rhythmic patterns created using the arare technique by which raised dots emerge through multiple strikes of a chasing hammer. Approximately twenty taps are required to produce each bead-like protrusion, and the meditative and repetitive nature of the process imbues her works with an ethereal quality.

A subtle and nuanced play of light and shadow also emerges on the textured surfaces of the vessels, complemented by a semi-matte, whitened, silvery finish achieved through an acid solution bath. Ferdinandsen describes her process in this way: “Every sound in the rhythm of my ‘hammer’s dance’ I feel in the whole of my body and enjoy within my soul. This is work that never suffers from fatigue.”

Ferdinandsen studied at the Saga Junior College of Art and the Tsuibu Metal Art School, both in Kyoto, Japan. She has exhibited throughout Japan, Scandinavia, and Europe, and her work has been placed in significant private and public collections including the Danish Design Museum, in Copenhagen and the National Museum in Stockholm. She was the recipient of the 2015 Schoonhoven Silver Award and has been recognized with numerous other awards and grants over the course of the past two decades.