Ariko Jewelry

Yuko Matsumura is a professional jewelry designer and diamond setter currently residing in Brooklyn, New York.

Her passion for creating unique jewelry began in Tokyo in 2000, when she discovered silver clay, an unusual substance that can be sculpted like clay then fired to become pure silver. She was so taken with the medium that she studied it intensely and became a certified instructor.

In 2002, Yuko left her birthplace of Tokyo and headed west for Vancouver to continue her studies. It was here she encountered jewelry made by the Native People of Canada. She was inspired by their delicate hand-carving techniques, and anxious to learn how to employ such methods in her own designs.

In 2004, her passion led her to New York, where she studied at Studio Jewelers and found work as a diamond setter in the jewelry district of New York City.

She started to design jewelry in the summer of 2006 under the name Ariko Jewelry, but in Japanese her first name can be read as either Yuko or Ariko and thats where the name Ariko Jewelry comes from.

She grew up in Tokyo Japan where she had a spiritual upbringing, she tries to express the force of environmental impact, a process of weathering volcanic rocks or the surface of the earth and beauty of natural materials which she is inspired by in her life. After she married her husband who grew up in Iceland, she has been bringing her impression of both countries, Japan and Iceland into her jewelry.

Today, she creates one-of-a-kind jewelry with a level of quality usually only seen in old-world craftsmanship. The process begins by sketching designs with pencil on paper. These are then translated into an original wax sculpture. A mold is created from the wax, and then the metals are cast and polished.

Yuko’s work is based upon an organic aesthetic that has become her signature style. Each piece is handmade and hand-finished. Therefore, no two are exactly alike. Her collections include 18k and 14k gold, platinum, sterling silver, diamonds, sapphires, rubies and semi-precious stones.