Eri Maeda is a Japanese ceramic artist based in Paris, France. Her ceramic pieces are in various body shapes and skin tones, carrying a message of inclusivity and diversity.
Everyone is different and Everyone is beautiful
She grew up in Japan surrounded by beauty standards and expectations from society, friends, and family. Later on, she realized everyone was impacted by beauty standards:
These standards make people feel they are never enough. But they are not real and made up to achieve business profit.
With this shocking discovery, she started to create body shape vases celebrating body positivity. It empowered her, and helped her understand how toxic beauty standards are. It guided her to be who she is instead of trying to follow wrong and made up “goals”.
Her inspirations come from people’s stories about their bodies; Weight gain after stressful relationship, weight concerns by society’s beauty pressure, body changes after pregnancy… She is going through maternity at this moment and she is embodying her body and mind experience into her art.
Eri hopes her art can open dialogues, bring back confidence in people’s life, and remind them that everyone struggles, that they are not alone.
I deeply believe in differences in beauty. My goal is to use art to unite society by breaking beauty standards and raising self-confidence.
