Artist Statement

Exploring the Unconscious Desire to Adorn

At the core of my practice lies a fundamental question: Why do humans adorn themselves?

It may be the pursuit of beauty, self-expression, or protection—yet none of these fully accounts for what I perceive as a more primordial impulse.

There was a time when the corseted body epitomized beauty. Coco Chanel's liberated silhouettes fundamentally challenged that ideal. What we choose to wear shifts with the times; aesthetic values are never fixed.

In Chanel's era, a dramatic transformation occurred—from established conventions to an entirely new vision of fashion. Today, in an age where diverse styles coexist, this transformation continues unabated. Even as standards of beauty remain in constant flux, people continue to adorn themselves.

If so, might the essence of adornment lie not in these shifting aesthetic values themselves, but somewhere else entirely?

In the natural world, plant diversity exceeds what function or purpose alone can explain. Evolutionary biology's "neutral theory" suggests that chance, not only survival strategy, shapes form. I see a parallel in adornment: beneath conscious choice lies something less deliberate, less explicable.

When we adorn ourselves, our selections often arise not from reason but from an inexplicable pull—an unconscious attraction that transcends function and taste.

My jewelry seeks to articulate this unconscious desire.

The unconscious activates only in the presence of attraction. Without it, there is merely absence—no impulse, no gesture toward adornment.

I conceive of this impulse as an entertainer: something that resonates with the wearer, catalyzing a moment of catharsis. My work attempts to embody this.

I embrace ambiguity as intrinsic to meaning. Jewelry born from this perspective, I believe, captures the essence of what it means to adorn.

rev.4 14th Nov 2025
Tomoko Maeda