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Takeyoshi Mitsui Glass Exhibition

From Saturday, September 14th, at the Asakusa Kappabashi main store,
Held the "Takeyoshi Mitsui Glass Exhibition."
The exhibition features Mitsui's masterpiece, Silence.
When the store first opened in 2022, the glasses sold out immediately. In addition
This time, they also made a sake cup, a sake cup, and a flower vase.
These works are beautiful even in the shadows cast by the monochrome and accent color glass.

Mitsui's products can be found here

Here we bring you an interview with Mitsui.
In a well-organized workshop, Answer your questions politely
From Mitsui's words and attitude, I could sense a quiet brightness and gentle strength that is also present in her work.

The individuality and space within yourself

He used to make objets d'art when he was a student. Mr. Mitsui .
We asked him about his journey from objects to vessels .

T : What kind of objects did you make?

M : There are eyes popping out of the bottle.
They have monster-like faces,
There are many elements involved, such as painting on the surface of the glass.
It felt like I was struggling with the conscious desire to do something different.


T : Are you still conscious of being different from other people?

M
: I don't think about it anymore. I hope things turn out differently in the end, though. I feel like I'm more free from individuality than when I was pursuing individuality. Rather give up Be natural

I feel like my personality is more pronounced now
.

T : When creating tableware for use in daily life, do you listen to and incorporate the opinions of the users?

M : I listen to half of it.
So I would like to leave some room for other people's ideas to be included.

"I want to feel color" - thoughts on color

"Silence" gives a soft impression despite being made of glass.
The gradation of the combined colors blending together is attractive.
Mr. Mitsui's sense of color and Let's take a closer look at the colors you choose.

T : This time, TSUCHI-YA asked us to create color combinations and samples, but they sent us some colors that were different from what we had expected, which made us think, and we had to go back and forth a few times.
You may already be color blind. Although it is public knowledge, it was a very valuable experience for us.
How have you dealt with your own sense of color?

M : I was interested in it because I knew I would never know what the correct color was. Suppose you get color-blind corrective glasses.
But I don't think you would trust the colors you saw there.

That's why I pay a lot more attention to the tone than the color I use.
When making the product, we pay careful attention to things like thickness and thinness.

For example, the red and green of Christmas are apparently complementary and a flashy combination, but to me they don't seem flashy.
The color red may be a color that people tend to notice, but to me it's not something I notice or anything special about.
So, in shades I choose the color combination.
I think what I want to express is monochrome, so it's like "creating monochrome with color."

Serenity born from intricate detail

The Silence series is made with delicate carvings.
The colors range from vibrant to soft.
Carving the glass he blew himself I asked about that extra step.

T : What kind of exploration did you go through before completing Silence?

M : It was born as a result of me prioritizing my own comfort.
I wanted to use color, but I didn't want to use pop, colorful glass, but something that was "quiet but bright."
I wanted to create something like that.

T: Did you want to use color but still keep it calm ?

M : That's right. I like people who are quiet and cheerful more than lively and cheerful people (laughs). So I thought that there was something wrong with leaving the glass colored.
Colorful yet tranquil I wanted to,
I tried scraping the surface and as I did so the color was neutralised in a good way and it all made sense to me.
So the title was decided naturally.

T : How much trial and error did you go through to arrive at this delicate carving ?

M : The most popular way to scrape the surface is with glass. In terms of expression, I was trying out different angles and dots, and it ended up looking like rain.
Actually, I love rain, so that may have had an influence too.
That's why a simple vertical straight line felt right.

T : Is the slight wobble of the shaving lines intentional?

M : Even if you try to carve it straight, it's made by human hands, so it's bound to wobble. I like that swing, That's because those lines are something only humans can produce and cannot be produced by a machine.

T : Which do you prefer, blowing or carving?

M : I don't like blowing in the summer because it's hard work, but
I really like touching molten glass.
To be honest,
it's hard to cut it down (laughs). "Silence" is an accumulation of thin lines, so it is extremely time-consuming.
I'm now carving away at a state of nothingness.

And the commitment to form

A clear katakuchi cup with no carvings , which is rare for Silence .
When you add alcohol, the shadows and colors appear differently.
Its thin, lean shape is simple and its softness, characteristic of glass, is what makes it so appealing.
Finally, we asked Mitsui about his thoughts on sculpture.

T : I can't help but pay attention to the color and texture.
To the shape What kind of restrictions do you have?

M : Maybe there is no individuality called "my own shape."
That piece looks the most beautiful Shape It's the result of thinking like a designer who wants to release something new every time.
Because "Silence" uses multiple colors, I tried to keep it as simple and neat as possible, while still giving the form a sense of tension. Otherwise it would end up being unintentionally colorful.

Not yet We heard so many stories that we couldn't include them all here.
I hope to be able to introduce it somewhere.

The high level of perfection of the work was apparent from Mitsui's fluent answers to our questions.
The path that Mitsui took to arrive at the final product From the process, I learned the importance of facing one's true self,
I feel like I got a glimpse of the difficulty and joy of manufacturing.

We hope you will come and experience it in store.

Mitsui Takeyoshi│Mitsui Takeyoshi
Born in Fukuyama City, Hiroshima Prefecture in 1987.
In 2010, he graduated from Kurashiki University of Science and the Arts, Faculty of Arts, Department of Crafts and Design.
After graduating from the Graduate School of Arts and Crafts in 2012,
He was affiliated with Toyama Glass Studio and became independent in 2016.
After a residency in Australia,
He currently lives and works in Toyama.

Mitsui's products can be found here

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