Born in 1942 in Tokyo, Japan, Hiroko Sato-Pijanowski is a jewelry artist and educator, who helped introduce traditional Japanese techniques to American metalsmiths. She was exposed to art by her father, who worked as a doctor but pursued painting as a hobby. Sato-Pijanowski enrolled at Rikkyo University in 1960, where she studied Japanese history (BA, 1964). Having completed university but hesitant to begin working as a teacher per her mother's recommendation, Sato-Pijanowski planned to continue her studies in the United States. She landed on jewelry design as a potential career path and studied for a short time at California State University at Northridge before entering the metal program at Cranbrook Academy of Art (MFA, 1968). She met fellow metal student Eugene Pijanowski during her second year. Though now divorced, the two married in 1968 and established a collaborative art practice that lasted four decades. After completing their degrees, the two moved to Japan, where Eugene studied at the Tokyo University of Art while Hiroko built a jewelry design business. They returned to the United States in 1972, where she continued to sell one-of-a-kind jewelry. When Eugene accepted a position at Purdue University, Hiroko began teaching adult education classes. They both landed jobs teaching at the University of Michigan in 1978, where they worked until retirement. After their divorce, Sato-Pijanowski returned to Japan, where she lives today. The majority of the pair’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.