FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

Entertainment

Naoko Serino Spins Vegetable Fiber Into Golden Sculptures

This artist captures light and space in delicate 3D structures spun solely out of jute fiber.

When you think of "fiber art," materials like cotton, silk, synthetic fibers, and other woven cloths come to mind. You would think, then, to call it “fabric art.” For a more pared-down look at the potential of "fiber" as a structural form, Naoko Serino uses jute – a raw vegetable fiber that can be spun into course threads. The coarse texture and "spinability" of jute makes it a common material used for making rope. Serino, on the other hand, uses jute to explore a myriad of ways in which light and space can enter into rhythmic forms.

Advertisement

In her works, the golden sheen and sinuous strands of jute yield a most spectacular softness and luminosity. The natural fibers are spun densely or pulled thin, making for infinite gradations of densities. Irregular shapes in varying degrees of transparency provoke an effect that is strongly biological. Spheres, tubes, tubes contained within spheres, spheres contained within cubes, and rows of coiled strands evoke thoughts of phospholipid bilayers of cell membranes, veins, sea sponges, and so forth.

Generating-8-B

THE BALL YOU BLOW

Generating-12-2

remembering

Serino’s works can be viewed at New York’s Japan Society as part of the Fiber Futures: Japan's Textile Pioneers exhibition until December 18th.