Kazuko Oshima, Designer of Stone Jewelry, Dies at 65

published Oct 10, 2007
Kazuko Oshima Designer of Stone Jewelry Dies at 65
Kazuko Oshima, a noted jewelry designer whose work combined the delicacy of wire with the solidity of stone, died on Friday in Manhattan.

She was 65 and lived in Manhattan.

The cause was complications of esophageal cancer, said Andrea Robinson, a friend of many years.

Sold exclusively in the United States by Barney's, Ms. Oshima's jewelry was popular worldwide with well-heeled women and celebrities, among them Bianca Jagger.

In Ms. Oshima's most characteristic designs, crystals and semiprecious stones are wrapped in webs of gold wire and seem to float above the body as they encircle a wrist or neck.

Ms. Oshima believed passionately that the materials that she worked with possessed great healing powers, something she often discussed in interviews.