Eri Matsui (松居 エリ) is a Japanese fashion designer best known for her line of clothing derived from mathematical concepts. Her work, which has always been high concept is best defined by her 2000 collection of designs taken from the Mathematica software program.
Born in 1952 in Aichi Prefecture, Matsui started designing clothing in Chicago after her husband was transferred there. She had studied in fine arts and design in high school and college and had spent some time working as a graphic designer. She attended William Rainey Harper College and was immediately interested in Fashion Design. She spent six years working and designing in Chicago before returning to Japan and starting her company – Eri Matsui Japan, with studios located in both Tokyo and Paris.
Her clothing started appearing in the Tokyo Collection in the mid-1990s and has been a staple there as her unique take on fashion continued to draw attention.
One of her most famous design works, Mathematica took the computer software program of the same name and combined the numerical aspects of math with the aesthetics of design to create Eri’s most celebrated collection in 2000. The designs were extremely popular in both Japan and abroad, capturing attention from designers, artists, and singers around the world. She has since gone on to lecture on the topics of science and art intermingling at universities. Her designs took many different mathematical theories and forms, including klein bottles, Escher patterns, knot theory and much more to create unique clothing designs in classical pieces such as dresses and kimonos.
Additionally, Eri is well known for her 2006 creation of a wedding dress that would look good with zero gravity. She subsequently founded a clothing competition in which designers were tasked with creating pieces that would look good in similar conditions entitled Hyper Space Couture Design Contest.