/ Celestial Eyes

The Mode of Art— Celestial Eyes
‘It is quite exciting to think about that the light from universe and starlight includes a millions of years of time and information of cosmos.’ －Jiro Kamata


The development of contemporary jewelry has surpassed its meaning of decorative art, but becomes a unique carrier of a personal quest to micro-space and connections for emotions and culture. It stands more than a wearable art piece, but also a kind of philosophical mindset that integrates experiments on materials and the building of aesthetic experience through micro-space.

Light is scientific but also mystical thing. It becomes primal human desire to wear light. This leads to Jiro Kamata’s inspiration taken from ESO (European Southern Observatory).

Here, he was taught how they catch the star light from the universe and what information is contained within that light. The light that carries long-period of time, has led his understanding to light to a new level. At the Atacama Desert in Chile, he witnessed the sky filled with hundreds of millions of stars, which inspired his interest to astronomy. At the Rye placed in south-east of Australia, he witnessed the ‘curved horizon’ of the Southern Ocean. The sun paints the huge sky with an amazing gradation from blue to orange, and made a beautiful arc shape in the sky. There, Jiro clearly remember a strange feeling that suddenly attacked him at that moment. It was the first time he physically felt the fact that the Earth is a sphere. He realized that sphere is a symbolic shape for astronomy. By cutting out a part of sphere, and creates overlapping space, the shape looks like an ‘eye’. He started to explore the element of ‘phosphorus’, whose name taken from Greek mythology, Φωσφόρος, meaning ‘what carries the light’. To him, this is not only the matter of science, but also the connection between cosmos, galaxy and spheres.

Starry Sky – inspiration of Celestial Eyes © Jiro Kamata

Jiro Kamata, known for his miniature optical sculptures (Contemporary Jewelry), is experienced in using elements such as light and color refraction to create illusional viewing experiences. Jiro creates pieces in forms and shapes that remind people of black holes, galaxies, myths, and even ancient symbols. In collaboration with ALIEN MODE for the project ‘Celestial Eyes’, he explores alternatives of material and develops a variety of forms, focusing on achieving sustainability through design, that enhances the synergy value between culture and ecology.

In the past thirty years, Jiro Kamata has disassembled and re-understood thousands of camera lenses from all over the world and from different eras, drawing inspiration from them to explore the civilized journey of light science. He discovered a special optical phenomenon - the Peltier effect, which causes spherical crystals to be produced when light is illuminated. This principle is similar to 3D holographic projection technology. To stabilize this effect, he created a ring-shaped structure that enclosed the most detailed expression of light. This design not only captures the essence of light, but also presents the beautiful scene of sunrise. Viewed from the side, it looks like a small bean, condensing the power of light.

Jiro Kamata has been passionate about jewelry since he was a child. This time he finally realized his dream of creating his own gemstone. He named this original crystal "ALIEN" and engraved "Jiro Kamata x ALIEN" to commemorate this innovative milestone. For him, this is not just jewelry, but a poetic journey about light, the universe and philosophy.

‘I see these works are closely related to the concept of "livingness" , pieces that integrates with personal lifestyle.’ said Jiro Kamata.

Celestial Eyes © Jiro Kamata

‘Celestial Eyes: Jiro Kamata’ © ALIEN MODE

‘Celestial Eyes: Jiro Kamata’ © ALIEN MODE. Photo: Chen Yung Hua