Born in 1987 in Tokyo, Japan, Koichi Io comes from a traditional metal-making family, as both his grandfather and his father are renowned metal artists. After learning from his father, he went onto further studies in Seoul, Korea. He makes simple hammer-raised vessels in copper, kuromido and shakudo. In 2009 he won the Merit Award “6th Cheongju International Craft Competition” and in 2014 the Victoria and Albert Museum purchased their first piece from him. In 2018 he won the Bayerische Staatspreis in Munich for special design and technical achievements in his craft.

Io was a finalist at the 2019 LOEWE Craft Prize. All shortlisted work was displayed at the Sogetsu Kaikan in Tokyo. Io's work is held in the following major collections: the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology in Oxford and Cheongju City, South Korea.