Marion Delarue

A graduate of École Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs in Strasbourg, Marion Delarue is interested in wearable objects and the concept of adornment. She is fascinated by elaborate techniques, which she employs both traditionally and experimentally, continually striving to reconcile traditional know-how with contemporaneousness, and craftsmanship with critical thinking.

A First-Prize winner at the European Triennial for Contemporary Jewellery in 2017, Delarue has taken part in multiple exhibitions including Dans la Ligne de Mire (Musée des Arts Décoratifs de Paris), A Bit of Clay on the Skin (Gardiner Museum, Toronto, Canada), Emerge/Evolve (Bellevue Arts Museum, Washington, USA), and Medusa (Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris).

At Villa Kujoyama, Delarue explored her interest in how Japanese women arrange and ornament their hair, both now and in the past. Her thoughts converged on Japanese hair accessories: kushi, kogai and kanzashi. For the series she produced during her residency, Delarue harnessed the natural patterns and unusual nuances of colour which are inherent in the materials traditionally used for Japanese hair accessories, to create an illusion of deliberate decorative work. Accompanying photographs revealed the significance of the relationship between body and object: natural materials magnify their relationship with the body, which becomes a medium for them.