PRESS · METALSMITH MAGAZINE · SUMMER 2024
The Summer 2024 issue of Metalsmith magazine put readers' questions to our founder, April Higashi — on the daily life of a jewelry gallery, how artists are chosen, consignment, and the ethical sourcing of stones and metals. The highlights are below.
Metalsmith magazine, Summer 2024
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ABOUT APRIL April Higashi is a contemporary studio jeweler, curator, and gallerist who has worked in the San Francisco Bay Area for over twenty-five years. She founded SHIBUMI GALLERY in 2005 as a space to make and show her own work alongside the artists who inspire her. SHOP APRIL'S WORK |
HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE INTERVIEW
01
WHAT DOES A JEWELRY GALLERY ACTUALLY DO, DAY TO DAY?
A great deal more than opening the doors. April describes a team of makers who photograph, catalog, tag, and arrange every incoming piece; monthly artist features with their own stories and campaigns; goldsmiths at the studio making custom work and repairs; and displays that are set up and broken down by hand each day. The unglamorous parts — insurance, bookkeeping, scheduling — fall to her.
02
HOW DO YOU SELECT ARTISTS FOR THE GALLERY?
April looks at jewelry from a maker's perspective, not a designer's — favoring artists with a voice that is unmistakably their own, work that is beautifully crafted and wearable, and ideas that often draw on nature and natural forms. Many of the gallery's own staff show their work at SHIBUMI too.
"I LOVE TO CULTIVATE BEAUTY, IGNITE CREATIVITY AND ENCOURAGE SELF-EXPRESSION."
APRIL HIGASHI
03
DO YOUR CLIENTS CARE ABOUT ETHICAL SOURCING?
Overwhelmingly, yes — April estimates 80–90% of clients ask how materials are sourced, and the gallery raises the subject on the sales floor before they do. She works only with suppliers she knows and trusts. "These relationships are more important than finding the cheapest or even less expensive product."
04
NATURAL OR LAB-GROWN DIAMONDS?
Her clients gravitate to ethically sourced natural stones and antique diamonds from post-consumer jewelry — pieces with character rather than clinical perfection. After visiting a diamond-growing lab herself, April found the process left her cold, though she keeps a trusted lab-grown source for clients who want that alternative.
05
HOW DO YOU BALANCE WORK THAT SELLS WITH WORK THAT FEEDS THE SOUL?
By making both, deliberately. One-of-a-kind experimental pieces challenge her as an artist and lend weight to everything around them; limited-production designs in silver, bronze, and gold keep the gallery accessible. The mix — fashion, fine jewelry, and artful studio work side by side — is the point.
"FOR ME, JEWELRY IS AN ART FORM."
APRIL HIGASHI
THE FULL INTERVIEW
April's complete answers — including her candid take on consignment splits and her guide to remaking heirloom jewelry — appear in Metalsmith, Vol. 44 No. 2.