About
Ken Sugimoto’s work is sculptural metalwork. He makes it unique with an organic form that is achieved by hand-forging the steel. He starts by heating the steel in a forge. He then creates a form that is inherently organic by hammering the forged steel by hand. The key elements of his work are tension and balance.
The characteristics of stainless steel and mild steel tend to unlock his imagination whenever he works with them. The characteristics of these steels lead him to extreme, dynamic, and streamlined shapes. Polishing and buffing the dynamic metal geometries carefully and repeatedly yield glossy surfaces that compliment and enhance the already dynamic form of each creation.
His experience as an industrial designer has allowed him to fortify his knowledge of metal as a material. He has always wanted to create one-of-a-kind pieces as an antithesis of mass-production.
He was born and raised in Japan, and he studied design in Tokyo. He has over 25 years of experience as a product designer in both Japan and the United States, and now work as a full-time artist.
He moved to the United States in 2005, where he met the world of metal arts while working as an industrial designer. He then joined a year-long program in Los Angeles to learn blacksmithing. Since then he has been willfully laboring in the world of metal art by both exploring and challenging his artistic abilities and limits in the creative confines of his studio.
