Yuko Nishikawa

Yuko Nishikawa is a Japanese designer and contemporary ceramicist based in Brooklyn. She specializes in fantastical installations, whimsical lighting and handcrafted one-of-a-kind lamps, chandeliers, sculptures, vases, and now, mobiles.

We invited Yuko to Provincetown for a month-long artist-in-residence in April 2021. During her time at Room 68, Yuko and her studio assistant created a world of mobiles made from handmade paper pulp and music wire.

Please visit or reach out for more details on the process, materials, and installation options.

I make objects and spaces drawing inspiration from ideas that we tend to think normal and investigate and offer alternatives in a joyful way. I create functions and rules for imaginary places and objects and use these ideas to create physical forms in ceramics. My mission is accomplished when my work transforms a space into a fascinating encounter.

"Piku piku" is a Japanese onomatopoeia that describes involuntary movements caused by unexpected contact. I want my work to make you feel piku piku, tickling something deep down inside you.

I was raised in a peaceful beach town an hour south of Tokyo, in a family where creating with hands was part of everyday life. Wanting to explore a new culture, I moved to Philadelphia, and then to New York City when I was 18. Fascinated by how space affects people's behaviors and moods, I studied Interior Design at Fashion Institute of Technology and worked for some of NYC's leading interior design studios such as Clodagh, Bilhuber, and Alexandra Champalimaud. Over the next few years, I began to focus on prototyping and designing everyday functional objects such as chairs and table lamps. Always working on personal projects, I encountered clay, a material that opened up wider expressions and experiments for me. At first, bowls and then vases, which lead me to develop artisan collections for Calvin Klein Home and Anthropologie. Then in 2017, I took a sabbatical to work on collaborations for retail and hospitality clients, including Halifax, a restaurant in W Hotel Hoboken, and The James New York, all the while exhibiting artwork and installations through galleries and retailers around the world. In 2018, I established a design and art company specializing in sculptural lighting and installations. I currently work in my studio in the industrial area of Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

— Yuko Nishikawa —