Capturing the Human Experience with Tiny, Wearable Sculpture with Art Jewelry Maker, Asagi Maeda

Episode 99

What you’ll learn in this episode:

  • How jewelry can be used to tell people’s life stories
  • What “ningen” are, and how Asagi uses them in her work
  • Where Asagi draws her inspiration from
  • How Asagi has taken “jewelry as sculpture” to a new level

About Asagi Maeda

Asagi Maeda lives in Tokyo, where she makes jewelry and lectures on jewelry making at Jyoshibi University of Art and Design. She is fascinated by the notion of the city being a mass of boxes we can peer into and catch a glimpse of a stranger’s life. She’s translated this idea into her necklaces, bracelets, and rings, which feature tiny worlds. What delights her most about her creations is that people can both wear them as adornment and become part of the worlds they depict.

Asagi has been included in solo and group exhibitions at Mobilia Gallery, SOFA Chicago, LOOT, the National Ornamental Metal Museum, and Dan Ginza Gallery in Tokyo. Her work is part of the jewelry collections at the Museum of Arts and Design, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and numerous international private collections.

Transcript

Additional Resources

Video: Stories on the planet – Newest work which must be exhibited at Mobilia Gallery right now

Necklace (consists of 7 brooches, a pair of earrings and a pin)

Sterling Silver, K18 yellow gold, Acrylic plate, Enamel, South sea pearl, Akoya pearls, CZ, Opal, Coral, Rock crystal quartz plates

Link to Video

Photos:

“Folding the Laundry” pendant. 2019. sterling silver (rhodium,k18 plates), amazonitemethacrylate resin

“An objet d’art for players” 2018. Sterling silver, k18, Akoya pearls. W88 x D 88 x H69 mm

“JOY” Necklace. 2007. Sterling silver, k18, enamel on fine silver, enamel, milky amber, white sapphire

“Escape from the routine life”

Bracelet. 2002. Sterling silver, k18, acrylic glass, onyx, coral

Sharon Berman