Jiro Kamata hails from a long family tradition of goldsmithing in Hirosaki, Japan. After training at the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich from 2000-2006, Kamata went on to become assistant professor at the same institution until 2015. Jiro has developed a practice in which he applies highly developed techniques to non-traditional materials – primarily lenses of various types, from eyeglasses to camera lenses.

In his work, Jiro deals with optical phenomena in connection with the perception of values. He processes found and sometimes used materials into jewellery works that, through their play on reflection, light and colour, explore ‘experienced memory’; only through interaction with them do they attain their value. To wear a Jiro Kamata piece is to enact a performance. Lenses, mirrors, even adhesive tape, offers insights linking the wearer with their environment and querying assumed positions. How do we see the world and how does the world see us?

Jiro won the City of Goldsmith Award in Hanau in 2006 and the Förderpreis Award in Munich in 2011. His work is held in collections worldwide, including the Cooper Hewitt Design Museum, USA, Die Neue Sammlung, Pinakothek der Moderne Munich, the Victoria & Albert Museum, UK and the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam. His monograph VOICES was published by Arnoldsche in 2019.