FUMIKO NAGANO

Born in Mie Prefecture and raised in Aichi Prefecture, Fumiko Nagano is a Japanese glass artist whose luminous vessels explore the relationship between light, texture, and memory. She graduated from Nagoya University of Arts, Faculty of Fine Arts, in 1998, and spent her early career balancing her own artistic practice with work as an art director between 1998 and 2003.

In 2005, Nagano began working as an assistant in the private studios of artists associated with the Seto City New Century Craft Museum while continuing to develop her independent body of work. Following the birth of her child in 2007, she deepened her exploration of kilnwork within her home studio, refining the delicate techniques that would become central to her practice. In 2012, she completed her own workshop and has since continued exhibiting widely through solo exhibitions across Japan.

Now based in Nagoya, Nagano creates glass vessels that appear to hold and radiate light from within. Her work is deeply informed by childhood memories of her family’s lumber business, where she became fascinated by the shimmering movement of sawdust suspended in sunlight. This sensory experience continues to resonate throughout her practice.

Using a meticulous process of layering powdered glass by hand with brush-applied gestures, Nagano builds softly textured surfaces that preserve the traces of movement and touch through careful firing. The resulting works possess both luminosity and tactile depth, balancing fragility with presence. Her vessels evoke quiet atmospheres and fleeting moments of light, inviting close contemplation through their subtle materiality.