Creating Japanese Jewellery: Personal Expression and Memory

In Japan, when the Japan Jewellery Designers Association (JJDA) was founded in 1964, jewelry was not yet familiar to the general public at the time. During the thirty years after its founding, due to the economic growth of the country, jewelry became increasingly widespread. However, jewelry as an art form is still little-known.

The first The International Jewellery Art Exhibition which was held in 1970 at the Seibu Department Store in Shibuya, was one of the earliest examples of an international exhibition on jewelry. HISHIDA Yasuhiko (1927-1981), the first president of JJDA, as well as HIRAMATSU Yasuki (1926-2012) and others played a key role in introducing the new movements of Europe and North America through direct exchanges between the artists. From the latter half of the 1980s, educational institutions such as Hiko Mizuno College of Jewelry (founded by MIZUNO Takahiko) has held residencies and workshops by artists from outside of Japan, thus creating a continuing exploration of artistic expressions within the realm of jewelry.

At the National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, an exhibition titled Contemporary Jewellery: The Americas, Australia, Europe and Japan was held in 1984, which exhibited works by artists such as Otto Künzli (b. 1948) and Caroline Broadhead (b.1950). Today, many Japanese artists who studied with such trailblazers are now playing active roles in their own right.

Jewelry comes alive when it is worn and used. It is also something that reminds us of “the richness of everyday life”. Hiramatsu started making simple rings during the mid 1950s, when the War was not yet far from people’s memories. The rings were made not for exhibitions, stating that “the issue is whether or not a thing has meaning and value in people’s livelihoods”. Mizuno, who drastically changed the curriculum of his school in the 1980s and has been actively taking part in education that goes beyond the practical, views jewelry as “something good for daily life” that is “necessary for the emotional wellbeing of humans”, and “a thing that expresses who a person is”. Because much of jewelry products have been made for women, many works carry questions on gender. The reevaluation of the “richness of everyday life” through jewelry has also been questioned from a critical standpoint.

Contemporary jewelry has mainly been examined from the perspective of Europe and North America. In this exhibition, we will weave another story, “our story”, by reexamining contemporary jewelry from the perspective of post-war Japan.


Hours 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM
*Fridays: 10:00 AM – 8:00 PM
*Admission until 30 min. before closing
Closed on Mondays. 

The exhibition will be presented in other venues: 
- Iwami Art Museum: March 20, 2027 - June 21, 2027
- Yamanashi Prefectural Museum of Art: July 3, 2027 - August 29, 2027