Professor Yasuki Hiramatsu (1926–2012) stands as one of the most important and influential figures in twentieth-century Japanese jewellery, celebrated internationally for redefining the possibilities of metal within contemporary art jewellery.
Born in Osaka in 1926, Hiramatsu forged an extraordinary career not only as a maker but also as an educator, becoming Professor at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music and later Director of the Japan Jewellery Designers Association. Through both his teaching and practice, he played a pivotal role in establishing contemporary jewellery as a serious artistic discipline in Japan.
Hiramatsu was a true pioneer, bridging ancient Japanese metalworking traditions with a modern sculptural sensibility. Rather than viewing jewellery as purely decorative, he approached each work as an exploration of form, material, texture and light. His pieces possess a profound stillness and clarity, often pared back to elemental shapes that radiate strength, balance and quiet contemplation. Surface was central to his practice. Delicately worked textures catch and diffuse light with extraordinary subtlety, allowing metal to appear almost alive in the hand and on the body.
What distinguishes Hiramatsu’s work is its remarkable sense of humanity and intimacy. Despite the precision and discipline behind each piece, his jewellery never feels rigid or purely formal. Instead, there is warmth, sensitivity and an almost spiritual connection to the material itself. Hiramatsu spoke of metal as though it were a living collaborator:
“The metals which I mainly use are also like living things. When I make a piece, I play, worry, struggle with it and encourage it.”
This deeply philosophical approach resulted in jewellery that feels meditative yet powerfully present, where simplicity becomes a vehicle for emotional and material depth. His works reveal an extraordinary understanding of proportion and restraint, qualities closely aligned with Japanese aesthetics while remaining entirely contemporary and internationally resonant.
Throughout his distinguished career, Hiramatsu received numerous major honours. In 1991 he was awarded the Forty-First Crafts Award in Excellence by the Japanese Government Ministry of Education, and in 1994 became the first non-European maker to receive the prestigious Ring of Honour from the Gesellschaft für Goldschmiedekunst in Germany, one of the highest accolades in the field of contemporary jewellery.
Today, Hiramatsu’s work is held in many of the world’s leading museum collections, including The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo; Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg; Schmuckmuseum, Pforzheim; the Royal College of Art, London; the Victoria & Albert Museum, London; National Museums Scotland, Edinburgh; and The Imperial Household Agency, Tokyo.
