Born in 1938 in Detroit, Michigan, Eugene “Gene” Pijanowski is a jewelry artist and educator, who helped introduce traditional Japanese techniques to American metalsmiths. The oldest of three brothers, Pijanowski taught himself to draw and paint as a child. Upon graduating high school, he joined the Marine Corps where he was assigned a position as a clerk in San Diego, and he later became a film projectionist for his company. After completing his service, Pijanowski enrolled at Wayne State University in Detroit, where he studied printmaking and metals under Philip Fike (BFA, 1964 and MA, 1967). Unable to find work directly out of his degree program, Pijanowski entered Cranbrook Academy of Art using GI Bill funding to pursue his MFA in metal (1969). He met fellow metal student Hiroko Sato during his first year. Though now divorced, the two married in 1968 and established a collaborative art practice that lasted four decades. After Pijanowski completed his MFA in 1969, he and Hiroko moved to Japan, where he studied under sixth-generation metalworker Yasuki Hiramatsu at Tokyo University of Art. Pijanowski returned to the United States in 1972 and landed a yearlong position at San Diego State University teaching alongside ACC Gold Medalist Arline Fisch. He then worked as an associate professor at Purdue University before both he and Hiroko landed jobs at the University of Michigan in the early 1980s. After working as a professor of art and associate dean of the school, Pijanowski retired in 2002 and relocated to Hawaii, where he still lives. The majority of Gene and Hiroko’s work was created jointly and bears both their names. They are credited with introducing Japanese materials and techniques to the American metal scene and are particularly known for their large Japanese paper-cord necklaces. They were selected to complete joint oral history interviews for the Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art and are represented within many significant museum collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Eugene Pijanowski and Hiroko Sato-Pijanowski were jointly elected Fellows of the American Craft Council in 2000.