Yasuki Hiramatsu is considered one of the trailblazers of contemporary jewellery in Japan. Texture, form and light lie at the heart of his art and his work radiates simplicity, purity and strength. His aim, he said, ‘is to create forms with force and grace, which are built to bring the potential innate in materials into full play.’ With an indescribable sensory quality to the surface, these are independent, autonomous pieces of jewellery with an ancient quality that never strives to be simply decoration. 

Yasuki Hiramatsu was born in Osaka in 1926. The son of a renowned Japanese metalworker, he studied at­­ Tokyo Fine Arts School, where he was also professor for many years. Honoured with numerous awards, in 1994 he became the first non-European to receive the Golden Ring of Honour from the Gesellschaft für Goldschmiedekunst in Hanau and was awarded the Bavarian State Prize in 1996. His work is widely exhibited and is held in collections including the National Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo, the Kumamoto Prefectual Traditional Crafts Center, Die Neue Sammlung in Munich, Schmuckmuseum Pforzheim and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. He died in 2012.