Ken Sugimoto



Ken Sugimoto

About The Artist

Ken Sugimoto • Lake Forest, CA
Metal • CUSTOM COMMISSIONS

I moved to the US in 2005, where I met the world of metal arts while working as an industrial designer. I then joined a year-long program in Los Angeles to learn blacksmithing. Since then I have been willfully laboring in the world of metal art by both exploring and challenging my artistic abilities and limits. I was born and raised in Japan and I studied design in Tokyo. I have over 25 years of experience as a product designer in both Japan and the US, and now work as a full-time artist.



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Q&A with the Artist

Tell us how your work is made.

I make unique sculptural metalwork with an organic form that is achieved by hand-forging and polishing the steel. I start by heating the steel in a forge. I then create a form that is inherently organic by hammering the forged steel by hand. The key elements of my work are tension and balance.


What makes you passionate about the medium you work with?

The characteristics of stainless steel and mild steel tend to unlock my imagination whenever I work with them. The characteristics of these steels lead me to extreme, dynamic, and streamlined shapes.

What is something unique about you or your practice?

Polishing and buffing the dynamic metal geometries carefully and repeatedly yield glossy surfaces that compliment and enhance the already dynamic form of each creation.