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Classification
glass

小澄正雄

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Masao Kozumi

Masao Kozumi was born in Kumamoto Prefecture and graduated from the Toyama Institute of Glass Art in 2001. After studio work in Toyama, he established his own glass studio in Gifu, where he researches historical bottle and mold-blowing forms through a contemporary glass practice. [1, 2]

Profile

Background

Masao Kozumi was born in Kumamoto and trained at the Toyama Institute of Glass Art, graduating in 2001. He worked at HOT GLASS STUDIO from 2001 to 2003 and at the NanairoKAN glass workshop from 2003 to 2013, while beginning his own production in Toyama during that period. The years inside working glass studios gave him familiarity with moulds, metal fabrication and the logistical side of glassmaking before he had a fully independent kiln.

After deciding he needed his own furnace and a place where noisy welding and metal work would not conflict with dense housing, Kozumi spent several years searching across the Hokuriku region. He eventually found the mountain site in Gifu where he has worked for roughly a decade. The studio there allows him to control the whole process himself.

Kozumi researches old medicine vials, liquor bottles, mould-blown glass and Edo-period forming methods, then tests those constraints rather than copying antique silhouettes. In a 2026 ARTS&SCIENCE interview he favors the older idea of a worker or craftsperson continuing a material practice over a fixed "artist" identity.

Practice

A glass practice shaped by historical bottle forms and process: industrial glass is selected for how quickly it cools and sets in molds, while ongoing experiments adjust its material composition. [2, 4]

Work over time

  1. Employment Worked at Bunrindo Main Store in Kumamoto Prefecture. · employee: Bunrindo Main Store · Kumamoto Prefecture, Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan [1]
  2. Group exhibition appearance The source lists an untitled group exhibition in Toyama without a venue, so it is not recorded as a shared exhibition. · Toyama, Toyama Prefecture, Japan [1]
  3. Employment Worked at HOT GLASS STUDIO. · employee: HOT GLASS STUDIO [1]
  4. Education Graduated from the institute's 造形科. · Toyama Institute of Glass Art · 造形科 · Toyama, Toyama Prefecture, Japan [1]
  5. Workshop assistantship Participated as an assistant at the Kanaz Forest of Creation Glass Workshop 2002. · workshop artist: Boid Sugiki · workshop artist: Nadega Desgentez [1]
  6. Employment Worked at NanairoKAN Glass Studio. · employee: NanairoKAN Glass Studio [1]
  7. Independent glass production begins ARTS&SCIENCE's 2026 profile says he began creating work in Toyama Prefecture in 2005; it does not give a separate studio-opening date. · Toyama Prefecture, Toyama Prefecture, Japan [2]
  8. Group exhibition appearances The source lists group exhibitions in Toyama, Tokyo, and Ishikawa but gives no titles or venues to identify individual shows. · Toyama, Toyama Prefecture, Japan · Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan · Ishikawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan [1]
  9. Relocation Based in Gifu Prefecture from 2015, after about ten years working in a town in eastern Toyama Prefecture. · Gifu Prefecture, Gifu Prefecture, Japan [18, 2]
  10. Studio Open Established his own studio and kiln in Gifu after a search of nearly three years across Toyama Prefecture, Kanazawa, Komatsu, Fukui, and beyond. The interview describes the timing as about ten years earlier; no exact founding year is inferred. · Gifu, Gifu Prefecture, Japan [2]
  11. Material and technique development Shifted to industrial glass because it cools and sets more quickly in molds; continues adjusting raw-material composition while developing Edo-period mold-blowing methods. [2]

Evidence and sources

References

  1. 作家紹介 — Toyama Glass Studio, Biography, career chronology, awards, and exhibition list Retrieved 2026-09-25
  2. Interview with Masao Kozumi — ARTS&SCIENCE, Published 2026-08-26 Retrieved 2026-09-25
  3. 小澄正雄 — Gallery Kitunebi
  4. 小澄正雄 - NEWS｜SML エスエムエル Retrieved 2026-09-28
  5. Interview with Masao Kozumi｜ARTS&SCIENCE Retrieved 2026-09-28
  6. 小澄正雄展 | noir et blanc Retrieved 2026-09-28
  7. 展覧会｜伊賀「小澄正雄 硝子展」開催のお知らせ。 | yamahon Retrieved 2026-09-28
  8. 玻璃 | noir et blanc (岐阜市 本田) Retrieved 2026-09-28
  9. 小澄正雄さんが訪ねてきてくださいました。| momofuku Retrieved 2026-09-28
  10. Masao Kozumi — 薬瓶 / Vials — ARTS&SCIENCE
  11. Masao Kozumi — Dining Table — ARTS&SCIENCE
  12. Dining Table exhibition archive — ARTS&SCIENCE
  13. Masao Kozumi — 灯 / akari — ARTS&SCIENCE
  14. Masao Kozumi — Gyoku — ARTS&SCIENCE
  15. 小澄正雄『段重』 — ARTS&SCIENCE
  16. Masao Kozumi — Glass — Evan Kinori
  17. Masao Kozumi — Bottle — Evan Kinori
  18. Masao Kozumi exhibition — 1月と7月 / 1to7, Paris
  19. 小澄正雄 ガラス展 — gallery yamahon, 2022
  20. 手の応答：生活工芸の作家たち — Kogei Seika
  21. 手の応答 catalogue / Kogei Seika blog archive
  22. 100 gifts — Galerie Momogusa
  23. In Praise of Shadows — IDÉE, 2021
  24. Seikatsu Kogei: Objects for Intentional Living — Japan Foundation, Sydney
  25. Casa BRUTUS: Masao Kozumi coloured-glass exhibition (20 May 2020) Retrieved 2026-10-02