Kimiyasu Kato is a Japanese-born architect and artist whose work fuses structural rigour with a deep visual sensibility, moving fluidly between built space, artistic expression and social commitment.

Kato arrived in Italy from Japan in 1988, settling first in Milan and then in Como — a city he chose as his home for its natural beauty and warmth — where, until 2020, he worked exclusively as an architect, signing a number of notable projects in both Italy and Japan. This dual cultural background has deeply shaped his geometric approach, his attention to detail and his sense of space.

2021 marked the beginning of a new creative urgency, with his first exhibition in Brunate (Como). From that moment on, he began pursuing contemporary art alongside architecture, showing his work in numerous solo and group exhibitions. His artistic practice takes the form of kinetic sculpture — the “mobiles”, inspired by the work of Alexander Calder — minimalist creations made essentially from tempered steel wire and small stones: a body of work of extreme lightness and balance that goes by the name “Anima Sottile” (“Subtle Soul”).

His artistic research reached an important milestone in 2023 with his participation in Miniartextil (Como), where he was invited to exhibit; for the occasion, he created a striking life-size female figure, gracefully suspended in mid-air and wrapped in a veil of silk.

The definitive consecration of his artistic and installation practice came in 2025, with an invitation to exhibit at Orticolario (Cernobbio). The work created for the event, titled “The Apple in the Garden of Eden”, won over the jury, earning him the prestigious Best Art & Design Installation Award at Orticolario 2025.

In 2026, his artistic path takes on a strong ethical and inclusive dimension, with the launch of a special collaboration with UROBURO of Monza, an association dedicated to fostering the independence and social inclusion of people with disabilities through innovative active-residency projects — a synergy that unites spatial and aesthetic research with the human value of solidarity and welcome.