ABOUT
Asagi Maeda
Born in 1977. Raised in Tokyo.
She spent her childhood doing handicraft and drawing every day since her mother had a painting and crafting class for kids at home when she was 4-12 years old. Her favorite toy at that time was a puppet stage. self-made puppets, her original stories and theme songs alone. She also liked making picture books and placed them in the elementary school library.
She studied sculpting at Tokyo Zokei University. She sculpted big marble sculptures at university. Because her grandfather cultured pearls and her mother made pearl necklaces as her job, she took a wax curving class at a school for jewelry making when she was junior. it right away but there, she met Metal Smith magazine (USA). She was attracted by the world of contemporary art jewelry introduced in the magazines and it made her to study jewelry seriously.
She went to NY. She first studied at Gemological In statute of America to get Graduate Gemologist. Then she studied jewelry making at Fashion Institute of America in NYC in one year. After her graduate, she started to exhibit her works at Mobilia Gallery in MA which still continues today.
Now she makes jewelry at home in Tokyo, exhibiting the works inside and outside of Japan. She also teaches wax curving class at Jyoshibi Art University in Tokyo.
CVs
I like looking out the window of a train and seeing the city of Tokyo; numerous houses, apartments, buildings… a city is a mass of boxes. boxes has a window and beyond each window a stranger's life exists. Innumerable stories are going on there. The fact that the city actually exists can overwhelm me- it's not imaginary.
We are all living only one precious moment.There are numberless, subtle yet different feelings we possess but cannot express by words.Various feelings, memories, and thoughts are like a universe that exists inside every person.By introducing one universe to another, endless intertwined stories are happening on this earth right now. And I am living as one of the main characters in one of those stories.
This knowledge inspires me with a courage so strong that I can drive all cares away.
I create my works with this knowledge. I get motivated by meeting new people and things. I feel then that the universe inside of me expands a little bit more.
I make jewelry now. I think that the real jewel is the heart. Like imagination, like the universe, it expands.
Eyes are the windows of the endless world inside. Shiny eyes, those touched by the world around them, are the most beautiful gems. I would like to create true jewelry that can penetrate and brighten the eyes of those who see it. I would like to deliver my heart to your heart. I keep creating my jewelry with this idea in mind.
Work experience
2007-present A part-time teacher
_cc781905-5cde-3194 -bb3b-136bad5cf58d_ _cc781905 -5cde-3194-bb3b-136bad5cf58d_ _cc781905-5cde-3194-bb3b-136bad5cf58d major of art and sculpture at University of Art
2003-present Self-employed Jewelry Artist
Education
2001-2002 Fashion Institute of Technology, New York USA
_cc781905-5cde-3194 -bb3b-136bad5cf58d_ Associate Degree – Jewelry Making
2000-2001 Gemological Institute of America, New York USA
_cc781905-5cde-3194 -bb3b-136bad5cf58d_ Graduate Gemologist Diploma
1996-2000 Tokyo Zokei Art University, Tokyo Japan
_cc781905-5cde-3194 -bb3b-136bad5cf58d_ _cc781905 -5cde-3194-bb3b-136bad5cf58d_BFA – Sculpting
Museum Collections
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston USA
Museum of Arts and Design, New York City, USA
The Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX, USA
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2023,Nov-2024,Apr
[Stories on the planet] at Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens, Florida,USA
2022,2018,2016 Gallery Okariya Tokyo, Japan
2021, 2019 Asobino Gallery, Matsuya Ginza, Tokyo, Japan
2017,2011,2008 Mobilia Gallery, Boston USA
Selected Group Exhibitions
2004- every year at Mobilia Gallery, Cambridge, MA,USA
2018,2014,2012,2011 “LOOT” at Museum of Arts and Design, NYC USA
2010 National Ornamental Metal Museum, Memphis, Tennessee, USA
Awards
2010 Selected in "Exhibition in Print" by Metalsmith magazine, USA
2000 Zokei Art Award by Tokyo Zokei Art University, Japan
1999 Takifuji International Art Award by Japan Traffic Culture Association, Japan
Publications and Media
2017 “Narative Jewelry - Tales from the toolbox” by Mark Fenn , England
2012 “Beauty in all things: Japanese art and design” by Museum of Arts and Design, USA
2010 Metal Smith Magazine VOL.30/No.4, USA
WHERE TO SHOP ASAGI'S ART JEWELRY OVERSEAS?
United States
348 Huron Ave. Cambridge, Ma 02138
Italy
Via Luca della Robbia 76, 00153, Rome Italy