Ryukyu Glass

A childhood fascination with glass and glass-blowing came to fruition in Okinawa where I got to blow and make my first glass:

Above: Rounding the rim of the glass.

Right: The end product! My first glass!!

Named after the dynasty that ruled Okinawa, Ryukyu Glass is a special type of glass made here. Pre-Meiji era, glassware was imported into Okinawa from the mainland, but due to large losses to the turbulent waters, craftsmen were hired from Nagasaki and Osaka to produce glass in Okinawa for the first time. Transparent glass items were manufactured from the discarded glass until the factory got destroyed during WWII. The present style has an influence and history closely connected to the 2nd world war. Beer and Soda bottles thrown out from the U.S. military bases were recycled to become the raw material for these glasses, which tended to be mostly colored. Cola bottles gave the azure color, beer bottles - brown, whiskey - black, soft drink - green, etc. After the Reversion (of Okinawa to Japan) raw materials for making the glass became easily available, and use of discarded bottles became less and less. Tourists to Okinawa from the mainland increased the demand for original arts, and ever since the popularity of Ryukyu Glass has not looked back.

The glass at first glance looks deformed or second grade as it has cracks, or bubbles or strange pieces of glass or bumps disrupting what should be the smooth clear surface of the glass. Some glasses have small patches of colors that swirl around. The glasses are of all sorts of shapes and sizes, and of course, colors. This is the distinct style of the Ryukyu glass.

This style must have originated in the rough and rustic processes used to make the glass initially at a grass-root level. The Japanese seem to have a fetish for things that look/are unfinished. With the progress of time, this rusticity has converted to a modern aesthetic. The very defects are a thing of beauty in the glass. I am constantly reminded of the resemblance of this concept of "imperfect beauty" to the concept of the unfinished nature of man we find in Renaissance philosophy. The fragile, indetermined nature of man could be compared to the fragile unpolished nature of this imperfect glass. (The Ryukyu glass cannot be used for very hot liquids, it can easily crack, nor should it be placed in a microwave oven.)

My fascination to the whole process of glass-blowing only grows. I shall make another glass sometime soon. This time I shall get the prototype Okinawan glass - the light blue one with colored swirls that imitate the colorful schools of fish swimming in the turquoise blue sea!