I want to preserve this fading beauty.
A small shape born from contradiction
MIN GALLERY held an exhibition of jewelry artist Miki Asai from Thursday, November 6th to Sunday, November 16th, 2025. This was the long-awaited first solo exhibition by this contemporary jewelry artist, who has won numerous awards in international competitions since her time as a student at Musashino Art University.
In 2024,it became the first contemporary jewelry to receive a special award at the prestigious Loewe Foundation Craft Prize. Its activities are attracting keen attention from many people, transcending the boundaries of jewelry and crafts.
When people look at Asai's work alone, they often imagine it to be "object-sized."
A small but large worldview that draws the viewer in
The award ceremony for the Loewe Foundation Craft Prize 2024 was held in Paris in early spring 2024. The special prize announced after the Grand Prix drew much attention. This was the first time that a small piece of "Contemporary Jewelry" had been awarded the prize.
ASAI. A slender and petite Japanese woman, Miki Asai, who seemed to be lost in the crowd of award-winning artists, displayed an overwhelming presence with her "Still Life" painting, which exudes a unique and tranquil worldview.
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"I use paper or wood for the base. For the vase, I first mold it with wax, then paste paper on top of it and layer it, then heat it. After removing the wax from the original form, I add designs such as cracked quail egg shells and combine small seashells. I then apply multiple layers of mineral pigments and grind them down to create the texture. Then I join it to a base that I made in the same way. In the case of brooches, I attach metal fittings to the back of the base, so that part is "metalwork"," says Asai.
His style of incorporating many different materials into one piece is unique, but he says he began using multiple materials as early as his graduation project at Musashino Art University.
In between taking photos, Asai lovingly arranges and selects his own works.
A childhood where I discovered the universe in small things
From his mysterious aura and quiet tone of voice, I imagined Asai to be a quiet person, but listening to him speak, I realized that he is not at all like that. Perhaps it's his inner strength, or perhaps it's his spirit as a craftsman.
"At the Loewe Foundation Craft Prize, when I stepped into the venue where the works were lined up, I was astonished by the size of the works of the other winners around me. I was honestly surprised that everyone was competing with such large pieces! They were towering works like totem poles and objects with the presence of furniture. "Among them were small rings I made, which was a strange feeling. The word 'miniature' was used quite a lot by the media and the general public, but I thought to myself, 'No, no, there's no way I'm making them with the intention of them being miniatures.'" (Asai)
Asai was born and raised in Nagoya. Before he started kindergarten, he moved around a lot due to his father's work, but he has lived in Nagoya ever since he was old enough to understand things.
"I just had an irresistible love for small things. That's still the case today. When I was in kindergarten, I was given a big lump of clay and told, 'Now, let's try making something you like!' And all I could manage as a little kid was to make something that fit in the palm of my hand. The teacher said, 'Use all of the clay you've been given to make something even bigger.'
While her mother sews handmade clothes, she dances playfully to the sound of the machine, draws roadside weeds in great detail on construction paper, and collects jewelry from flyers, neatly cutting out the claws that hold the stones in place.She is also extremely attracted to small, intricate things such as beadwork and dollhouses, and it could even be called a ``habit.''
When he was studying abroad in Glasgow, England, he thought he had spent a fair amount of time learning the language and was fully prepared, but he admits that at first, "I couldn't keep up at all with the classes and conversations with my classmates, who all had a Northern British accent."
You can't win unless you try hard. Use your dexterity as a weapon.
Asai, who was aware from an early age of his love of making things and his hobbies, which could be described as "hyperfocus," decided to go to an art university while in high school, with the understanding of his parents. "I don't mind working hard at everything. On the contrary, if I'm not working hard, I get anxious and stop," he says. True to his words, after successfully entering university, he once experienced feelings of burnout.
"I have a younger brother who is three years younger than me, and unlike me, he can pass exams with only about 60% of his effort. I'm the type of person who gives 100% of my effort, whether it's studying or anything else, and somehow manages to pass. Maybe that's why, when I let my energy drop, I don't know what to do," says Asai.
Not for the sake of entrance exams, nor simply out of personal taste, but what would I create in order to live my life as "Asai Miki" in the future? I feel that the trigger to consider such a fundamental meaning came during my time at university, when I had a chance to reset everything. As a result, I decided to face this issue head on and tackle it using a variety of materials.
"At Musashino Art University, from the first semester of your second year, you begin the process of thinking about the materials you will specialize in. Rather than deciding on a material straight away, you try out different materials to see how they work together. I decided to tackle woodwork, glass, and metalwork. I found the answer pretty quickly.
With woodworking, if you don't first decide on a clear blueprint, or rather a finished drawing, it would be difficult to correct the direction once the wood has been cut. With glass, there are many points where you have to make instant decisions, which I thought would be difficult for me. And then there's metalworking. I thought that with metalworking, I would be able to hesitate to a certain extent even during the production process. I could pay attention to the finer details and have time to think things through. That was the reason why I decided to major in metalworking." (Asai)
Above all else, Asai values his own pace, and even if it means taking time to think and over-concentrating, he continues to work until he is satisfied. Quiet but never easily influenced by others, Asai's style has remained consistent ever since. After graduating from university, he went on to study at a university in the UK, where he also devoted himself to creating contemporary jewelry. His use of multiple materials had already become established, and gradually he began to create pieces featuring the "pot" motif, which is Asai's specialty.
Asai's creative process involves cracking quail egg shells and gluing them one by one to the surface of the piece, then layering mineral pigments and grinding down the rough surface. The only way to describe Asai's creative process is with "mind-boggling detail." He says he loves the moment when a shape begins to emerge as he steadily repeats the work with insatiable energy and concentration.
To engrave the memory of today's happiness
Strictly speaking, pots are not the only motif, but when we think of the artist Miki Asai, pots are the first thing that comes to mind. Just like us viewers, we want to find the answer to what these pots represent, Asai, the creator, says she also searched for the answer.
"Ever since I was little, I've loved small, intricate things, and as a child I would indiscriminately collect tiny seeds and such. If I put them in my pocket for a while, they would break and become crumpled. The same goes for feelings of joy and happiness. Beautiful memories that make you wish the day would never end can disappear in the next moment. It's so frustrating. Even when I try to tell myself that things are beautiful because they disappear, I can't resist the desire to lock them away. How can I hold on to beautiful things that I can't keep? To resolve this contradiction, I arrived at the motif of a jar, a container for holding ' something ' ." (Asai)
Asai's work gives off an impression of simplicity, but it is packed with unimaginable thought and time, and the lightness of his work, which does not give the slightest sense of the weight of what is contained within, also seems to suggest the agility of life, and the viewer never tires of it.
Creation is the process of repeatedly destroying and reconstructing
Each small pot is filled with the artist Asai's sincere desire to capture and treasure this moment.The materials that create them also all have their own stories.
Take quail eggs, for example. Asai's thoughts on eggshells and the tiny cracks they contain are "destruction and reconstruction." This somewhat contradictory element, that nothing new can be born without destruction, is also common to his motivation for creating works, which is to preserve fading beauty. The raw materials for mineral pigments are literally rocks and stones, but the intention of "destruction and reconstruction" resides in these pigments as they are made by grinding stones and rocks, which are the condensed essence of time, into fine powder and using them.
As soon as I learned this meaning, I felt as if I could see a vast horizon behind these adorable little rings and brooches.
I have recently started making a new piece. If I had to describe it, I would call it a "brooch," but it has the appearance of a refined Japanese painting and the serenity of a time-honored Western painting, and is filled with a mysterious charm.
What cannot be grasped, what passes by has no weight
Asai's works are filled with the charm of their unique worldview and mysterious shapes. Coupled with their strong impact, their value and reputation are spreading with a force that even Asai himself could not have predicted. "It's as if my work is guiding me," Asai says with a laugh, but one thing he told me made a lasting impression.
"Everyone who holds it says, 'Wow, it's so light!' Does it look heavy? I take great care to make it as light as possible, so when people try it on and are surprised at how light it is, I feel a bit happy," says Asai.
When asked why it is necessary to make the pieces light, Asai replied, "To express things that change and disappear." He answered simply, "I believe that intangible emotions and feelings, and passing memories, have no weight." Despite their presence resting quietly on the finger, they have a mysterious presence that makes them seem almost weightless. I feel that this is also part of the appeal of Asai's works.
I continue to express my daily life in my work. This is me.
Sometimes the things that are important to us can be completely incomprehensible to others.
"This may be the first time I've spoken so much about my work and craftsmanship. But, to begin with, I don't think I could survive without continuing to work hard and putting in the effort every day, without exaggerating. So, rather than continuing to make a living, I think I continue creating to find meaning in life. 'That's it,' says Asai.
Although Asai puts a lot of deep thought into his work, his pieces are filled with kindness and freshness that lifts the spirit just by wearing them.
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Miki Asai Jewelry Exhibition
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Miki Asai / MIKI ASAI
Born in Aichi Prefecture in 1988, she majored in metalwork at the Department of Industrial, Craft and Design, Faculty of Art and Design, Musashino Art University. After graduating, she moved to the UK and studied contemporary jewellery at Central Saint Martins before moving on to Glasgow School of Art. While still a student, she participated in numerous contemporary art and craft competitions, mainly in the west, and quickly won numerous awards. Since returning to Japan, she has continued to work energetically, winning the Loewe Foundation Craft Prize 2024 and thefirst special award for contemporary jewellery in the same prize, attracting attention both at home and abroad.
Text by Mayuko Yamaguchi
Photo by Yumiko Miyahama