Akihiko Takeda. Art jewellery

An exhibition as precious as a talisman: Akihiko Takeda - Art Jewellery door to Mantua ninety-four unpublished works of the Japanese artist, in a journey that intertwines Japanese tradition e western influences. Edited by Paul Juno Vassalle Takeda in collaboration with the d'Arco Foundationunder the patronage of Municipality of Mantua, Province of Mantua e Consulate General of Japan in Milanthe exhibition celebrates Takeda's tireless research between materials, memory e form, making dialogue applied arts, fashion e culture.

The route opens in the Hall of the Ancestorswhere the roots of the artist (Toyohashi, 1930 - Nagoya, 2012) emerge alongside kimono family - Furisode, Kuromontsuki e Nagajuban - with obi and accessories, witnessing a sensitivity that has grown between temples e shrines and a domestic dialogue with fashion designer Sachiko Takahara. In Neoclassical Hall you enter the heart of the art jewellerydivided into four cores: The fabricwhere silk and cotton offcuts from kimonos are rolled with stainless steel in an original technique developed by the artist; The theatre of Nōwith masks and subjects reinterpreted in silver; The flowersroses and tulips transformed into micro-sculptures silver since the 1950s; Nature and the archaicwith cranes, deer, dragons and totemic figures dear to the Shintoism.

The exhibition is completed with aparticipatory experience at Winter Gardenvisitors are invited to write a tanzaku - coloured paper strip - with dreams and desires to be hung on the bambooevoking the feast of Tanabata and collective poetic practice. A programme of appointments e workshop (including focus on kimono e ikebana) broadens the keys to interpretation, while the return to origami of 2012 ideally closes the artist's creative journey. The project, promoted by the Fondazione d'Arco, strengthens the historical link between Arch Palace and the Japanalready alive in the collections of Count Antonio d'Arco and in the phenomenon of Japanism that conquered Europe between the 19th and 20th centuries.