Saruyama | Tsugino Go Exhibition "Glass / Transparency"

Saruyama

Glass is as the maker wills, and the maker is as the glass makes them.

Tsutsumi Go Exhibition: "Glass / Transparency" Opens

"Glass that transmits light. We re-examined this property and planned this with Mr. Go Tsutsumi."—says Shu Saruyama, owner of "Saruyama" in Moto-Azabu. "The gentle glow of white glass embracing the light of an incandescent bulb, the flickering flame seen through clear glass. Following our wine glasses, lampshades and candle holders, designed by Saruyama and produced by Tsutsumi, will now be added. Also on display are tableware and lighting fixtures using clear and white glass." The Go Tsutsumi Exhibition: "Glass / Transparency" will be held from Saturday, June 29th to Sunday, July 7th.

Text by Chinatsu Yamamoto

The Appeal of Go Tsutsumi's "Glass / Transparency" Exhibition by Chinatsu Yamamoto

I want to convey the charm of blown glass. As a simple way to do that, I want to write about what I saw and felt in the studio. The air there shimmered with the heat of the furnace melting the glass, with undulations scattered here and there.

Breath is blown into the heated glass, and the mass is instantly given form. The glass expands, is sometimes spun around as if dancing in the air, stretched, joined, and takes shape before your eyes. If the design requires sharp corners, for example, the mold itself must be created first. Even then, it is still created by hand, one piece at a time, in dialogue with the properties of the glass. The sequence of actions and the speed required to finish the work before the glass solidifies are nothing short of dramatic.

The relationship between the maker and the glass seemed both intimate and manipulative. Glass is as the maker wills, and the maker is as the glass makes them. The maker knows the glass intimately, shaping it through material composition, temperature control, and choice of actions, yet also seems constrained and compelled by the glass in all these aspects. It is an endless, thrilling push and pull. Neither can fully control the other, but instead of letting go when control is lost, the maker harnesses the undulations that arise in the space between. These undulations appear in form and surface. The undulations in form invite the joy of choice, and the visual undulations of the surface are even more beautiful when illuminated.

The gap, precise yet impossible to fully close, is where things are born. It is because of this gap that breath is infused, that undulations occur, and that light passes through. What is created in this way now has a definite form, here, and can be held in your hands.

Go Tsutsumi Exhibition: "Glass / Transparency"

Dates: Saturday, June 29 – Sunday, July 7, 2013

Saruyama

Wako Mansion 101, 3-12-46 Moto-Azabu, Minato-ku, Tokyo

Tel. 03-3401-5935

Hours: 13:00 – 18:00

Open daily during the exhibition period

http://guillemets.net/

http://www.facebook.com/guillemets.layout.studio.saruyama