Arts Thread

Ippei Takizawa
Craft & Material Practices ba hones

Arts University Plymouth

Specialisms: Contemporary Craft / Glass / Installation/Sculpture

Location: London, United Kingdom

ippei-takizawa ArtsThread Profile
Arts University Plymouth

Ippei Takizawa

Ippei Takizawa ArtsThread Profile

First Name: Ippei

Last Name: Takizawa

Specialisms: Contemporary Craft / Glass / Installation/Sculpture

Sectors:

My Location: London, United Kingdom

University / College: Arts University Plymouth

Course / Program Title: Craft & Material Practices ba hones

About

I am a Japan-born glass artist based in the UK, working at the intersection of craft, sculpture, and speculative narrative. My practice, Future Archaeology, casts mass-produced toys and recasts them in glass using pâte de verre, before enclosing the resulting forms within hand-cut faceted glass spheres, imagining today's disposable objects as tomorrow's excavated relics. Before my BA in Craft & Material Practices at Arts University Plymouth, I spent a year working as a studio assistant to Japanese sculptor Kohei Nawa on the PixCell series, an experience that shaped how I think about crossing craft technique into a contemporary art context. My degree work was nominated for the Vice-Chancellor's Commendation Award and won the Crafts Council's CC Loves Award. I work primarily in cast and pâte de verre glass, alongside cold-working and faceting techniques, and I'm drawn to processes that sit between control and accident, precision and distortion. I'm currently based in the UK and building an international practice spanning Japan and Europe.

I'm always open to connecting with galleries, curators, and collectors interested in contemporary craft, glass sculpture, and material-led practice.

Future Archaeology casts mass-produced toys and recasts them in glass using the pâte de verre technique, before enclosing the resulting forms within cold-worked, faceted glass spheres. The process imagines today's disposable objects as tomorrow's excavated relics, a speculative act of preservation carried out through casting, melting, and cold-cutting. Some forms retain their original shape through the process, while others soften and distort, echoing the imperfect nature of real archaeological finds. The faceted sphere acts as both display case and lens, fragmenting the object inside and asking the viewer to look closely at something they might otherwise dismiss as trivial.