KanKan ‒ KiraKira ‒ DokiDoki

Die Neue Sammlung – The Design Museum shows:
the jewelry course of the Kobe Design University in the country of Japan.

KanKan, KiraKira and DokiDoki are Japanese words.
The words imitate different sounds.
The sounds occur when you say the words out loud: 
KanKan imitates the sound of a hammer when you make jewelry with it.
KiraKira describes the feeling of looking at jewelry.
DokiDoki describes the feeling of wearing jewelry.

Words like these are called:
onomatopoeia.

Onomatopoeia is a word that imitates a sound or a feeling or an action.
Onomatopoeia is very popular in Japan.
People use it often when they talk.
This way they can express their feelings better than with regular words.
The Japanese language has around 4,500 onomatopoeic words.

Mangas are very popular in Japan.
Manga is the Japanese word for comic book.
Comic books are books in which drawings tell the story.
In the last few years, Japanese mangas use onomatopoeia more and more.

Animated films also use onomatopoeia.
Animated films use many single images that run quickly one after the other.
This looks like they are moving.

People in Japan used to think:
Mangas and animated films are not very valuable.
But today they are part of Japanese culture.
And they are also very popular in many other countries.

The idea of the exhibition is:
Maybe modern jewelry can do, what mangas and animated films do.
In the exhibition, we ask the question:
Can jewelry also help you see and hear feelings?
We know: When you wear jewelry, it has an effect on others.

In the exhibition all the names of the jewelry are onomatopoeic words.
The artists chose the name to express their feelings.
And they want visitors to recognize these feelings.
The exhibition should also help more people get to know Japanese jewelry.

In the exhibition, you can see jewelry by students and graduates from this university: 
University of Design in the city of Kobe in Japan.
The university has a jewelry course.
4 professors from the university in Kobe selected the jewelry for the exhibition.
Their names are:
Fumiki Taguchi, Itto Mishima, Takashi Kojima, and Mari Ishikawa.

The 6 pieces of jewelry were made by:
• Chihiro Hanayama
Her brooch is called: Monophyletic funghi.
This roughly means:
Mushrooms that grow on a tree trunk.
Year: 2022
Materials: silver and paint
Size: 10,5 cm x 7,0 cm x 0,6 cm
• Kazunori Kodani
His ring is called: Formation.
This roughly means:
The way parts are arranged. Year: 2019
Materials: Gold-plated silver and smoky quartz
Size: 4,8 cm x 3,6 cm x 2,6 cm
• Kako Shimoonoda
Her brooch is called: Keep hope alive
It is also called: Passion.
Year: 2023
Material: Acryl
Size: 6,5 cm x 4,5 cm x 2,2 cm
• Jingyuan Chen
Her brooch is called: Renewed energy.
Year: 2022
Materials: Used copy paper, gelatine, used colored paper, glue, steel wire, spray paint
Size: 4,5 cm x 5,0 cm x 6,0 cm
• Hayate Miyazaki
His brooch is called: Element.
This roughly means: Single parts.
Year: 2023
Materials: Silver and parts of a cell phone
Size: 5,0 cm x 5,0 cm x 4,5 cm
• Yoshiki Yamada
His ring is called: Connection.
Year: 2023
Materials: Silver, stainless steel wire, and garnet
Size: 4,6 cm x 3,9 cm x 4,3 cm