There are jewelers who follow tradition, and there are jewelers who transcend it. Kaz occupies rare ground between the two. Working at the intersection of European antique aesthetics and Japanese classical metalwork, he produces pieces that cannot be categorized — and that is precisely their power. Each work is the product of a practice built not on convention, but on deliberate choice: every alloy selected, every patina cultivated, every tool wielded with intention. To wear a piece by Kaz is to carry something that exists nowhere else in the world.

About the artist

Kaz did not inherit this craft. He chose it — radically, and late. After a career as a product planner, he walked away from professional certainty at 48 to pursue the one thing that would not leave him alone: the haunting beauty of European antique jewelry. What followed was not a gentle transition but a full reinvention. He trained with discipline, competed with ambition, and won — earning recognition from Japan's most prestigious jewelry institutions within years of beginning. His is a story not of privilege or lineage, but of conviction. And that conviction is present in every piece he makes.

In time, Kaz turned his attention eastward — toward the ancient Japanese art of metalwork, with its irreplaceable alloys, its philosophy of impermanence, and its insistence on the beauty of things that age. He did not simply add these elements to his Western vocabulary. He allowed them to challenge it, reshape it, and ultimately transform it into something entirely his own. The result is a body of work that speaks two visual languages simultaneously — and in doing so, says something neither tradition could express alone. These are not pieces made for display cases. They are made to be lived with, touched, and passed on.

Awards

2003

Pearl Design Contest: Grand Prix

2004

Crescent Vert Jewelry Design Contest: Design Drawing Prize

JJA Japan Jewelry Design Awards 2004: 2nd Prize, Japan Jewelry Association

2005-2010

Solo Exhibition “Passe Compose” in Ginza

2006

JJDA Japan Art Jewelry Exhibition: "Accepted", Japan Jewelry Designers Association

2008

JJDA Japan Art Jewelry Exhibition: "Accepted"

JJA Japan Jewelry Design Awards 2008: Party Scene "Accepted"

2010

JJA Japan Jewelry Design Awards 2010: Party Scene "Accepted"

2010-2011

Exhibited in Hakone Lalique Museum

2013

SNAG's Contemporary Goldsmithing: Tradition and Excellence "Selected as top 16"

Society of North American Goldsmiths

Publications

Japan

2005

"Four Seasons of Jewelry 2005" CMP Japan

2006

"Original Jewelry Japan vol.4 2006" Matsubara-Kashiwa Books Inc.

"Tokyo Jewelers No.46 2006" Matsubara-Kashiwa Books Inc.

2007

"Tokyo Jewelers No.47 2007" Matsubara-Kashiwa Books Inc.

2008

"Tokyo Jewelers No.54 2008" Matsubara-Kashiwa Books Inc.

2009

"125 Jewelry Artists in Japan" 2009 ART BOX International INC.

United States

2014

"Art Jewelry Magazine January 2014" Kalmbach Publishing Co.

2016

"Art Jewelry Magazine March 2016" Kalmbach Publishing Co.

2012

"Such Capable Hands" by Pat Robinson Schmidt, Orange Hat Publishing

2013

"Showcase 500 Art Necklace" LARK Jewelry & Beading