FRAGILITY
Eiko Nakahara
Japan

Things we believed would never break often turn out to be fragile, brittle, and weak. We sometimes find beauty in broken objects or ruins. Yet even if we perceive life and beauty in fragile, weak things, witnessing the scenes of frequent natural disasters in recent years makes us keenly aware of human powerlessness in various forms.
Here, I believe we must pause and consider what it means to be “fragile and weak.” A fragile house, for instance, is simply one susceptible to external forces like earthquakes or storms. Likewise, the human heart cannot help but be wounded by another’s unexpected words. The “fragility of the human heart” is nothing other than an inability to close one’s ears to others’ words, a state of being open to others against one’s own will. I believe “fragility” is a state where one’s very existence is exposed to the outside world.

Brooch « Wavering-Heart-1 », 2025
110×30×20 mm / 19 gr
Silver950, Stainless steel spring wire
Openwork
Photo : Shion-Kizuki

Brooch « Wavering-Heart-2 », 2025
110×30×20 mm / 19 gr
Silver950, Stainless steel spring wire
Openwork
Photo : Shion-Kizuki

More « FRAGILITY »

Fragility – Anne Blok / Netherlands

FRAGILITYAnne BlokNetherlandsThe fragile threads of memory Life is fragile; it is temporary and precious. This brooch tells the story of a young life, life in the bud and the rose that never reached full bloom. The brooch tells the story of a thirteen year-old girl....

Fragility – Alicia Salcedo / Spain

FRAGILITYAlicia SalcedoSpainProtecting ourselves, seeking refuge, the shell as armor, as protection, as home.The shell that once sheltered its own life now collects a foreign element. A being that occupies an empty space previously inhabited. But it also wears away,...

Fragility – Danni Xu / USA

FRAGILITYDanni XuUnited StatesThis body of work emerges from a personal moment of reckoning—where fragility was not an abstract idea, but a lived, shifting condition I needed to face. These pieces trace the intimate terrain of vulnerability: the quiet, unstable edges...

Fragility – Alma Lion / Israel

FRAGILITYAlma LionIsraelThe brooch was created in October 2023 by joining an olive branch with metal. This union reveals a material tension between the cold, sharp metal and the tender, fragile olive branch. At the same time, it evokes a symbolic contrast — between...

Fragility – Babette von Dohnanyi / Germany

FRAGILITYBabette von DohnanyiGermanyThis piece talks about our identity, how fragile we are, our look in our individual face, our acceptance about ourselves. The research of ourselves all way deep but also never secure.Brooch "hello", 20237x7x2,5cm mm / 250,00 grAG...

Fragility – Namkyung Lee / South Korea

FRAGILITYNamkyung LeeSouth KoreaThe plate engraved with photographic images serves as a mold that forms a single surface (or wall). On top of this, Jesmonite (an acrylic resin) is poured to cast the photographic image. The photographic image plate created in this way...

Fragility – Alissa Goble / USA

FRAGILITYAlissa GobleUnited StatesObjects have a way of holding stories, carrying traces of memory, family, and identity. I’m drawn to the quiet power of the things we keep close and how they connect us to the past. Through crochet and metalsmithing, I use making as a...

Fragility – Ute van der Plaats / Belgium

FRAGILITYUte van der PlaatsBelgiumMy mother was born as a Berglanddeutsche, a German-speaking minority living in the Banat, a region that belongs to Romania since the end of the First World War. In 1944 the family fled from the Russian invasion to Germany. I never got...

Fragility – Elvira Cibotti / Argentina

FRAGILITYElvira CibottiArgentinaScars Wrinkle, tear, fold, break. When we hurt ourselves, it will undoubtedly result in a mark. Acknowledging and accepting those wounds is the first step to heal, to gather strength. Not only do the scars, the damage, speak of the...

Fragility – Luisa Mucedola / Italy

FRAGILITYLuisa MucedolaItalyThrough tempered glass – strong yet vulnerable – I explore the human condition, its balance between resistance and dissolution.In each crack and fragment, I find the truth of living: strength born from limits, beauty emerging when...