At dinner, it had become the quiet centre of the table. A slightly different grain, a moderately different pot, and a very different language spoken over it.
rice º the grain that connects us, that feeds us and fuels our dance
For this portrait story, the Rice Chain Necklace moves through performance traditions from Kerala, China, Japan and Bali. Each form carries history in a different way: through painted faces, a held gaze, the turn of a wrist or a joke passed between performer and audience.
The portraits are interpretations, not documentary records of costume. Together, they look at how culture can be carried by the body, then learned again by the next one.
01 º Kerala, India
Chakyar Koothu
A performer, a drum, a pair of cymbals and an audience who may find themselves inside the joke.
Chakyar Koothu is a solo temple-theatre tradition from Kerala, India. The performer draws on Sanskrit verse, then opens the story out through Malayalam narration, gesture, facial expression and sharp improvisation. Episodes from the Ramayana and Mahabharata can sit beside comments about the people in the room. Ancient story and present-day humour share the same stage.
02 º China
Peking opera, jing role
In Peking opera, the face can introduce a character before the plot does.
The jing is a painted-face role, often used for forceful male characters with distinct temperaments. Song, spoken delivery, acting and martial movement work together, while the painted design gives the audience another layer of information. Colour matters, but so does the full pattern; every character has a particular visual identity. Red is commonly associated with courage, loyalty and uprightness.
03 º China
Peking opera, dan role
The dan is the family of female roles in Peking opera, spanning different ages, social positions and personalities. These parts were historically performed by men, though women perform them today as well.
Nothing in the form is casual. A glance travels on a precise line. A sleeve, step or change in posture can carry what naturalistic dialogue would convey elsewhere. The elaborate toukui headdress frames the face and moves as part of the story - its flowers, beads and hanging ornaments also help signal the status and type of the character being played.
04 º Japan
Japanese theatre study
This image is the most deliberately hybrid portrait in the series.
Its white facial makeup and red-lined eyes recall onnagata, the male actors who specialise in female roles in Kabuki. The large white hood, however, resembles a wataboshi worn in Japanese bridal dress rather than a standard Kabuki stage costume. We have brought the two visual languages together as an editorial study, not presented them as one historical look.
Kabuki tells stories through acting, dance, music and highly developed stage convention. Its plots range from history and moral conflict to love, loyalty and ordinary urban life.
05 º Bali, Indonesia
Balinese Legong
Legong is a classical Balinese dance known for exacting control. Fingers articulate, the head tilts, the torso shifts and the eyes move sharply in response to the gamelan.
Developed in the courts of Bali, Legong draws on stories from Balinese and Javanese tradition. Its gold headdress, bright flowers and layered costume give the dancer a radiant outline, but the smallest movements remain just as important as the silhouette.
Rice Chain Necklace
A grain, repeated in silver
The Rice Chain Necklace began with a bead, casted against a grain that was familiar to us and our team.
It represents the earth in our collection that is an ode to the sky.
Rice feeds the body before the body learns the dance. Here, the grain becomes the thread between them.
