Jiro Kamata deals with optical phenomena, colour and the reflected world, taking delight in the way surfaces collect and disperse light. He has developed a practice in which he applies highly developed goldsmithing techniques to non-traditional materials, primarily lenses of various types. He processes found and sometimes used materials into jewellery works that, through their play on reflection, light and colour, explore 'experienced memory'. To wear a Jiro Kamata piece is to enact a performance.

Jiro describes himself as a goldsmith, though his materials are more often glass and silver. This positions his philosophy and skill within a distinct jewellery tradition, part of a lineage of master craftspeople. Despite being steeped in this tradition, Jiro is considered one of the modern masters of the contemporary jewellery movement, known for its rejection of such labels in favour of 'artist'. American curator Kellie Riggs calls Jiro's works "instant contemporary classics dependent on no one period in time", and in fact they are design objects in the best sense: innovative in their materiality, surprising, entirely suited to their purpose and never compromising wearability or comfort. She also says "[he] is a minimalist and a maximalist. I choose to compare Jiro's opus of jewellery wonders to the most adventurous and stunning of high fashion, rather than to high art or academia because frankly, it's more fun."