Naoko Fukumaru was born in Kyoto, Japan to a third-generation antique auction house family, which was started by her great-grandfather collecting unwanted broken objects with a wheelbarrow and restore at home. Growing up surrounded by fine arts and antiques, She began to experiment with broken objects at an early age, a passion she built into a career. She graduated from West Dean College, Chichester, England in 2000, with a post-graduate diploma in Ceramics, Glass and Related Materials Conservation and Restoration which led her to more than two decades of working as a professional ceramic and glass conservator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Detroit Institute of Arts Museum and other institutions in the USA, Europe, Egypt, and Japan. Working with international museums and cultural heritage has honed her restoration skills to expert levels. She has been involved in major restoration, conservation, and fabrication projects including The Last Supper by Leonard da Vinci, The Tomb of Tutankhamen in Egypt, Caravaggio and Veronese paintings, The Thinker by Rodin, The Detroit Industry Murals by Diego Rivera as well as working on projects for Yoko Ono, Anish Kapoor, Marina Abramović, Peter Greenaway and Marc Quinn.
Exceptional
Background and Experience
Tomb of Tutankhamen, Egypt
Since the opening of Tutankhamen's burial chamber in 1923, the painted scenes have deteriorated. In 2009, a facsimile tomb, made using the latest 3D scanning technology, could provided the key to saving this tomb, as well as others in the Valley of the Kings and Queens. Naoko joined the project as the chief conservator to make sure the tomb was kept safe during the scanning while at the same time examining and documenting the tomb.
Leonardo da Vinci -
The Last Supper
Change Performing Arts (Milan, Italy) commissioned the production of a 1:1 facsimile of Leonardo da Vinci´s Last Supper in Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan. Naoko joined the project as a chief conservator to make sure the painting was kept safe during the scanning, and at the same time prepared sticks of color samples to match the original painting and document over 500 discreet colors. Peter Greenaway's vision of Leonardo's Last Supper was later shown at the Melbourne Festival 2009.
Caravaggio
in San Luigi dei Francesi
To coincide with the 400th anniversary of the death of the Italian artist Caravaggio, the Municipality of Caravaggio commissioned the Fondazione Giorgio Cini and Factum Arte to make facsimiles of three paintings in the Church of San Luigi dei Francesi in Rome. Naoko joined the project as a chief conservator to make sure the painting was kept safe during the scanning, and at the same time examining and documenting the painting. She also fabricated accurate replicas of the three paintings.
Paolo Veronese
The Wedding Feast at Cana (1563)
The Louvre Museum
In the autumn of 2006, the Louvre Museum reached an agreement with Giorgio Cini Foundation and granted Factum Arte Scanning team access to record The Wedding Feast at Cana. Naoko joined the project as a chief conservator to make sure the painting was kept safe during the scanning , and at the same time examining and documenting the painting. She also fabricated an accurate replica of the 732-square-foot canvas. Details are reproduced down to the most minute topography, including the raised seams rejoining the panels that Napoleon's troops cut the painting into when they transported it to France in 1797.