Akiyo Matsuoka jewelry encompass the perfect union of nature, music and sculptural design. Incorporating the human form as an element of her designs, Akiyo’s artistry poetically joins forms of nature with a sophisticated aesthetic sensibility.

Akiyo’s career as a jewelry designer was a natural transformation from her career as a musician. From an early age, Akiyo tapped the currents of rhythm in her surroundings and expressed what she saw and felt through her fingers, on the keys of her piano. She continues to tap these same currents as a source of inspiration for her designs. With the same dedication and discipline she brought to her music, Akiyo embodies the essence of her inspirations in wearable art, which she refers to as “Silhouettes of Nature”.

Akiyo is attracted to the malleability of 18 karat gold into fluid designs that are both comfortable and sensual. Born and raised in Japan, Akiyo was surrounded by the beauty and luster of cultured pearls and interprets them as “symbols of purity”. She incorporates cultured pearls, as well as diamonds and semi-precious stones. Her Japanese heritage is also an influence in her designs’ minimalist simplicity, their clean lines and understated femininity.

Though still inspired by her native land, Akiyo also gains inspiration from the places in which she now dwells: The urban landscape of her current home, New York City, offers a palatable zest of beats and rhythms that Akiyo subtly reflects in her designs. Akiyo’s Caribbean getaway is also illuminated in her art – the rhythmic sounds and movement of the Caribbean forests, the percussion of rain falling on leaves, a soft breeze rustling dense foliage, the surprise flash of vibrantly colored flowers amidst a sea of green, and the powerful force of a waterfall.