Yukito Nishinaka was born in the Wakayama Prefecture in Japan in 1964, and graduated from the Hoshi University of Pharmacy in Tokyo in 1988.  He later went on to study sculpture and glass at California College of the Arts in Oakland, California from 1991 to 1994.

Nishinaka is a glass artist who is particularly interested in having his vessels used in the Japanese tea ceremony.

"The concept of my work, ‘YO BI TSU GI’ is rebirth. ‘YO BI TSU GI’ is the traditional restoring technique for the ceramic tea bowl. Traditionally, Urushi lacquer was used as glue to join the damaged parts together and finished with gold leaf, thus enhancing the broken parts with a renewed charm. I join my glass parts together using molten glass to create an image of ‘Kimono’.  Finally, I have reproduced my glass ‘YO BI TSU GI’ as my own interpretation to emphasise and harmonise the Japanese sense of beauty." -- Nishinaka

In 2019 Nishinaka was commissioned to create a permanent Glass Zen Garden, Karesansui Garden (Eternal Affinity), at the Honen-in Temple in Kyoto, Japan. In 2020 the concept film for this project received the Gold Award at the World Media Festival hosted in Hamburg, Germany.

Nishinaka's work is held in many International public collections, including The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology in Oxford, Musée Cernuschi in Paris, The Daiichi Museum in Nagoya, Japan and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Group Exhibitions

1. Japanese Wonder 14 - 31 July 2020