CEO / Producer / Designer
Akiko Yonei
Producer of MENTOSEN. Founded Shinko Studio Ltd. in 2002. organizer of Jewelry Artists Japan (JAJ), a community of jewelry creators.
Owner of "Shinko Studio", an original jewelry store in Tokyo, Japan.
GIA.G.G(Gemological Institute of America Graduate Gemologist®)
I also provide "field trips" for the community to enjoy and a place to interact with creators.
Through this small jewelry store in the town, I notice many things.
The lives of each and every person who comes to the store.
During the creation process, I have learned about each person's history, pains and joys.
In these ordinary people, I feel the strength to live and the beauty of the original human being.
Through Jewelry Artists Japan (JAJ), a community of jewelry creators that I started in 2012, I have been able to share my experiences with artists, goldsmiths, and craftspersons.
Through JAJ, a community of jewelry creators that I started in 2012, I have been able to connect with artists, metalworkers, craftsmen, 3D CAD creators, young people, and other passionate people who are passionate about making things.
Meeting these people has enabled me to take on new challenges and work with them in a lively exchange of ideas.
I feel that jewelry as a "symbol of wealth," focusing on material value, is a little out of sync with our current thoughts.
I feel that new ideas, people's imagination, and manufacturing have value.
I am excited by new technology and the ability to create new designs and things by going beyond the realm of work.
However, I believe that it is not enough to use technology alone, but the handwork of people that has been handed down from generation to generation that will create excitement and meaning for people to hold on to for a long time.
Launched the MENTOSEN collection, fotunetly I got a best member to be involved in the production.
The world was changed by Corona, and I started the new collection "MENTOSEN" in December 2021, confident that I would be able to create something new with them.
"Why do we need to make new things in jewelry?"
The answer is.
"It's boring unless you make something that can break through the old, fixed values of the world."
Through a small piece of jewelry, I hope to make the world a place where people who have been suffering from old values can live a little more lightly.
It seems like a lie to say such a thing in words, so I want to let things speak for themselves.
Designer
Design - Maho Takada
MENTOSEN designer. Contemporary jewelry artists. Born in 1994. Graduated Musashino Art University Graduate School. Selected for the Japan Jewelery Exhibition and the Itami International Craft Exhibition "Jewelry". She also has a face as a contemporary jewelery artist.
Freedom for people to choose what they like and what they like according to their values.
I want to express through jewelry that various values are tolerated.
Maho Takada 『 imperfection rope 』– Silver925
Jewelry is a special thing that people can wear on their bodies.
I think the meaning of jewelry is that it reflects the ideas of both the wearer and the person who makes it.
In the MENTOSEN collection, while going back and forth between arts and designs, I continue to design jewelry that is easy to wear in everyday life.
It's fun to process metal and create my pieces with my own hands.
On the other hand, when I design with new technologies and methods such as CAD and 3D printers, it comes up with a different new idea.
Human hand work and technology.
Art and design.
I want to go back and forth between different places while making things.
【Profile/Awards】
Born in 1994. Graduated from Musashino Art University Graduate School
2023 Itami International Craft Exhibition “Jewelry” Selected
2022 maho takada Solo Exhibition (Tokyo, SHIKO STUDIO)
2020 Solo Exhibition “Margin” SHINKO STUDIO (Tokyo, SHIKO STUDIO)
Selected for the 2020 Japan Jewelry Exhibition
2019 Itami International Craft Exhibition “Jewelry” Selected
2018 Japan jewelry Exhibition Selected
Selected for the Metal Crafts Open Call Exhibition “Imakara Mame Sara”
Craftman
Crafts - Takeshi Uchida
Jewelery craftsman. A First-class Precious Metal Accessory Technician*. JJA (Japan jewelry design award), National Skills Grand Prix winner.
*A person qualified by a state examination as a certified technician
His compact atelier in Niigata is small enough that it can be overlooked by people walking past.
However, once you enter his atelier, it feels like you have stepped into a treasure box filled with all the tools and equipment necessary for making jewelry.
There is not only a file, a fret saw, a cold chisel, and multi-colored glassy glaze used for traditional enamel (cloisonné), but also a laser welding machine, a microscope, and a 3D printer.
He creates Shinko Studio’s collections that is required the highest skills and one of a kind works like custom orders.
It goes without saying that sophisticated skills and care are put into his work, but there is no comparison to the beauty of the smooth lines when the jewelry is finished. He not only uses design illustrations, but he also uses the true “feelings” that come from viewing the work in person.
Using these feelings,
he makes delicate changes to the shape, sharpens the edge and creates a smooth form.
When he is in the final finishing process and it comes time to sharpen the edge, he has an internal struggle on how to balance sharpness with usability.
Straddling this boundary, he forms a beautiful line.
The valuation of a craftsman tends to come from their technique, but it is important for people to create comfortable lines that change with the times.
Coming back to the fundamental principle of design to “solve societal problems and propose new solutions,” isn’t that in essence what it means to make things?
Jewelry artist
Design - Kazuko NishibayashiKazuko Nishibayashi
Jewelry artist in Germany[TRAINING / EDUCATION] Fachhochschule for Gestaltung in Pforzheim in Germany / Jewellery Design, auditing student. Women’s College of Fine Arts, in Tokyo, Formative Art Course.Established an atelier in Dusseldorf, Germany in 1993, and exhibited in Europe based in Germany.
Currently living in Düsseldorf. She has long been an artist in contemporary jewelery in Germany.
There are always beautiful "Surfaces" and "Lines" in her work.
The work she once designed has never been old and has been supported for a long time.
In the MENTOSEN collection, she offers the original designs for Surface and Kosa.
Whenever we look at an object, there is definitely a space between the form and the form, between the physical matter and physical matter.
Empty space cannot be seen or felt only in space. Empty space can only be recognized when it is between things.
The same is true for form. It is only when there is space that we can see the form clearly.
For me, empty spaces are as important as physical matter.
A single piece of jewelry is created from a single board.
Basically, it is like origami.
It is easy to create a shape from paper or cloth, but metal is hard, and folding, wrapping, and bending it is not so easy.
However, silver is relatively soft and stretchy for a metal.
It is easy to bend, and interesting shapes can be created.
When trying to create a piece entirely from a single board, the load is greater than adding various elements, and the surface and edges can become distorted.
By taking advantage of these incidental effects, unexpected shapes can be created.
This process of transforming a two-dimensional surface into a three-dimensional object is what I do in the creation of my works.
Jewelry Making, Craft Person
Craft - Ayumi Maruyama
Ayumi Maruyama is a jewelry craftperson. National Qualification: First Class Precious Metal Jewelry Making Technician. Gold medal at the WorldSkills Competition. Lives in Niigata Prefecture.
Entered the world of jewelry making as soon as she graduated from school.
She won a gold medal in the jewelry making category of the WorldSkills competition, the gateway to success for young jewelry craftspersons.
The field of jewelry making has always been a male dominated society.
Despite the fact that women are the overwhelming majority of wearers, most of the craftspeople are men. It is undeniable that this is the cause of many commercialized jewelries that have no sensitivity.
There are still quite a few young female artisans who can work with a high level of skill and sensitivity.
MENTOSEN's challenging ring, Shikaku, was completed thanks to her solid skills and curiosity for new work.
In her private life, she struggles to raise her two children as a mother, while continuing to create jewelry.
While living her daily life, she is constantly improving her jewelry making skills. Her presence will change the way jewelry is made.
CAD Model Advisor
Making - Kenichiro Taniguchi
Kenichiro Taniguchi studied the basics of jewelry making at a custom-made jewelry studio for six years.
After that, he moved to Tokyo and joined a major custom-made jewelry company.
Since the dawn of digital equipment, he has been involved in prototype production using CAD (stereolithography), 5-axis cutting and 3D printers.
He has extensive knowledge of new technologies such as CAD and 5-axis cutting, and also works with metal as a craftsman.
In April 2020, he established a custom-made store called "here to stay" in Matsuyama, Ehime Prefecture.
More than 20,000 pieces of jewelry have been created so far.
At MENTOSEN, I am involved in a wide range of activities, such as outputting 3D printers, modifying formed resin, and advising on casting.
He has been involved in an advisor for the MENTOSEN.
Engravers & Stonesetters
Engraving - Terumi Miyamoto
Japanese engraving engraver (pattern engraving, engraving and stone setting). Born in 1987 in Kanagawa, graduated from Tohoku University of Art & Design in 2009. Engaged in Japanese engraving and stone setting at a custom-made jewelry company.
Became independent in 2016. Moved to Ehime Prefecture. She works away from the hustle and bustle of the city, focusing on one-of-a-kind pieces from Japanese high jewelry brands.
At the age of 23, she developed an incurable intestinal disease (Ulcerative Colitis : UC).
While still undergoing treatment, she has been challenging high quality work and improving her skills.
Each line she engraves with a chisel is filled with her soul.
Her engraving technique is called "Wabori," which is a traditional Japanese technique using a chisel and a small hammer, unlike the machine engraving of Hawaiian jewelry or Western-style engraving.
She engraves each line using a microscope, chisel, and small hammer.
Engraving with chisels is the last process of jewelry making, and it is a process that never allows for mistakes and cannot be redone.
Therefore, it is necessary to be prepared to face the work with grace.
Unlike her usual gentle appearance, she has a strict attitude toward her work.
She will be one of those who will open up a new world of Japanese carving and stone distillation in the future.
She believes that "if I can use a chisel and have the ability to recognize a good thing, I can do unshakable work anywhere.
This is her belief.