Since its founding in 1996, Japanese creative brand e.m. has expanded its expression beyond jewelry into interiors, graphic design, and spatial design. Celebrating its 30th anniversary, the brand is presenting e.m. 30YEARS EXHIBITION【ARE YOU EXCITED?】 at Laforet Museum Harajuku in Tokyo from October 21 through 25, 2026.

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The exhibition brings together jewelry, interior objects, graphic works, and other creations produced over the past three decades. More than a retrospective of the brand’s history, it offers an opportunity to explore the imagination and playful spirit that have shaped e.m.’s distinctive creative identity.

An Exhibition in Motion: Bringing Playfulness to the Smallest Details

Upon entering the exhibition, visitors encounter an extensive collection of jewelry and objects displayed on fixtures of various shapes and forms. Jewelry is inherently intimate in scale, with much of its character revealed through the smallest details. Such displays can often feel static, but here, rotating chairs and a moving model train introduce unexpected movement into the space.

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The contrast between meticulously arranged objects and the movement unfolding throughout the venue creates a distinctive rhythm, bringing an element of play to the experience of viewing jewelry.

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This approach to exhibition design reflects e.m.’s longstanding involvement in interiors and retail spaces. Rather than simply displaying objects, the brand considers how they inhabit a space and how that space shapes the way they are experienced. The exhibition embodies this close relationship between jewelry and its surroundings.

Antiques and Sketches: A Glimpse into the Creative Process

At the center of the exhibition, a collection of antique objects gathered by the designers is displayed. Design sketches are also mounted on specially constructed walls nearby.

Beyond the finished jewelry and objects, these materials offer a glimpse into the interests and visual references that inform the designers’ work. They suggest how curiosity about everyday objects, materials, and forms can become part of a creative practice.

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Viewed alongside the finished pieces, the antiques and sketches encourage visitors to consider the brand’s 30-year history not merely as a succession of products, but as an accumulation of ideas, observations, and approaches to making things.

Three Decades Beginning with Silver Jewelry and Tiled Furniture

e.m. was founded in 1996 by Eijiro Nakatani and Masayoshi Hida. Its earliest creations included both silver jewelry and tiled furniture. Although widely recognized today as a jewelry brand, e.m. has explored the relationship between adornment and interiors from the very beginning.

In 1997, the brand held its first exhibition at H.P.DECO, presenting original silver jewelry on furniture of its own design. The presentation attracted attention and helped introduce e.m. to a wider audience.

In 1999, e.m. introduced designs that would later become part of its iconic e.m.eternal collection. Moving beyond the predominantly raw, industrial character of its early silver pieces, the brand began incorporating cubic zirconia and pearls, creating distinctive forms with features such as settings that allow stones to move.

The interplay of contrasting textures and unexpected combinations has remained a defining aspect of e.m.’s jewelry. The fact that designs originating in the brand’s early years continue to be enduring favorites speaks to the strength of its distinctive aesthetic.

A Creative Practice Across Jewelry, Interiors, and Graphic Design

Looking back over e.m.’s three decades reveals a creative practice in which jewelry has consistently existed alongside experiments in spatial and graphic expression.

In 2000, the brand began undertaking interior design projects for businesses including hair salons. Three years later, it opened its first directly operated store, e.m.box, in Shirokane, Tokyo, incorporating a gallery space known as upstairs museum.

At e.m.box, seasonal changes in themes and interiors transformed the retail environment into an evolving expression of the brand’s identity. The store was not simply a place to sell jewelry, but also a space in which e.m. could communicate its creative vision.


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In graphic design, the brand launched its free publication e.m.TABLOID in 2014. Known for its humorous covers inspired by each issue number, its inaugural edition featured a Pacific saury fish, taking the shape of the numeral “1” as its starting point.

For its 25th anniversary in 2021, e.m. unveiled visuals directed by art director Yuni Yoshida. Over the years, the brand has also collaborated with fashion labels and produced original art pieces.

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The diversity of objects and spatial presentations in the current exhibition can be understood as an extension of these activities. Jewelry may be central to e.m.’s identity, but the brand has never confined its creativity to a single medium.

Beyond “Creating Things You Never Quite Imagined”

Since its establishment, e.m. has embraced two guiding principles: creating things that bring joy to people, and creating things that feel familiar yet unexpectedly new.

Bringing seemingly contradictory elements together, or giving familiar materials and motifs an unexpected character, has informed not only the brand’s jewelry but also its approach to exhibitions and retail environments.

The 30th-anniversary exhibition does more than present an archive of past creations. It illustrates how a consistent creative philosophy has found expression across different disciplines over time.

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Alongside iconic jewelry designs, the exhibition features advance sales of new and limited-edition collections, as well as jewelry created exclusively for the occasion. A related pop-up shop, also titled ARE YOU EXCITED?, is being held at the first-floor entrance space of Laforet Harajuku from October 20 through 25.

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Thirty years on, e.m. continues to value ideas that resist convention and the pleasure of making things. From its beginnings in jewelry and interiors, its creative language has expanded into graphic design, art, and spatial expression.

The exhibition offers both a reflection on that journey and a sense of anticipation for what e.m. may create next.