Yuko Matsumura loves sea food, ice cream, and traveling. Although she aspired to be a piano teacher as a child growing up in Japan, Yuko now creates her own line of jewelry in a Brooklyn, New York, studio where her designs begin as a sketch on paper.

Yuko got her start creating silver jewelry in Japan, eventually becoming a certified instructor in 2002. She came to New York in order to attend a jewelry school to learn how to work with precious metals and gemstones.

When asked about the factors that have shaped Yuko’s unique designs, she lists her spiritual upbringing in Tokyo as well as the volcanic origins of both Japan and Iceland, her husband’s home country. “Landscapes that have been shaped by the flow of lava are a big inspiration to me,” says Yuko. “I try to express that force of nature in my jewelry.”