Hybrid Flatware, 1999-2000
Metal and found objects, 6 @ 8.5 x 1.25 x 1.25"
Jiro Masuda was born in 1969 in Ontario, Canada, but grew up in Detroit, Michigan. As a child, his parents played a prominent role in his budding passion for carpentry and metalwork. Masuda earned his B.F.A. in Jewelry and Metalsmithing from the University of Houston, Texas, in 1993, and pursued his graduate studies at the Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, where he received an M.F.A. in Metalsmithing in 1996. Masuda works with an amalgam of media including copper, brass, bronze, aluminum, silver, gold, platinum, steel, stainless steel, titanium, nickel, plastics and wood, and uses jewelry, silverware, and found objects to create some of his most impressive pieces. Masuda has participated as an active member of the community at Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan. He received an award in October 2008 at the 90th Annual Toledo Area Artists Exhibition in Toledo, Ohio. Masuda currently teaches Jewelry and Metalsmithing at the Detroit County Day School, Beverly Hills, Michigan.