Born in Okayama Prefecture, Mitsumoto Takeshi finished his post-graduate studies at Tokyo Gakugei University in 1987. Since then he has combined working as a metalwork artist with university teaching, first at the Toyo Institute of Art and Design, then at Tokyo Kasei Gakuin and, since 2009, at Kyoritsu Women's University.

His work first received major public recognition in 1990 when he won the Silver Prize at the prestigious Asahi Modern Craft Exhibition. The following year he received an award at the Talentborse Handwerk 1991 in Munich. This was also the year in which he set up his own studio. Since then he has exhibited regularly in Japan and also abroad (Los Angeles, 1996; Brussels, 2002; London, 2008 onwards).

Mitsumoto works primarily in iron. Like others of his generation, he is, despite the highly crafted nature of his work, less interested in delicacy and sleekness than in the exploration of rawness of material and texture. Differences of scale aside, parallels can be drawn with the rusted iron sculptures of Richard Sera or Anthony Caro. There is also an appeal, pointed or humorous or both, to contemporary concerns with conservation and the environment. This is evident in this set of vases, which are constructed from recycled drain-piping and fencing wire. While each vase has a clearly independent presence, the three vases were created as a set in which the variation of the stringing of the fencing wire sets up rhythms and counterpoints of an almost musical quality.