Studio Iemak

We met our friend Masahiro Sasaki in 2006 when we helped organize the Glass Art Association of Canada conference in Red Deer. We had never met Masahiro before the conference but while there he made many friends with his easygoing manner and impressed people with images of his work and his glass blowing skills. While staying with us he mentioned that if we ever came to Japan that we had to visit him. Both Tyler and I have long been drawn to Japanese design and Masahiro’s work seemed to embody its quiet elegance. The last few days have been spent in Masahiro’s studio and home, which are on a lovely piece of property in Nagoya that he has sort of inherited from another glass artist who passed away a few years ago. Like most glass artists, Masahiro’s home and studio life are enmeshed and we had many great moments getting to know his family and studio assistants while working with him. With his busy work schedule he spends about 2 -3 days a week making work in his studio but otherwise the shop is buzzing with renters and assistants working most days. All this activity made for a fun atmosphere and we got to know his studio assistant Kenta quite well, as he is keen to come to Canada and work in a hotshop. We said we would do our best to find a situation for him, as his blowing and assisting skills were top notch. One of our favourite things about the glass community is there are these connections over long distances despite language barriers. We all have one thing in common and that is our love of glass. It has been great to realize that in many ways you do not need much of a common language to blow glass with someone, as hand gestures and sound effects (torch sounds) come in handy. During our time there, we worked with Masahiro, helping him to create pieces from a new body of work that he is preparing for an upcoming exhibit. The work has received critical acclaim and is not just visually stunning but is also technically demanding. The pieces require thin vessel walls, which meant that the timing was precise and all windows and doors were shut to prevent drafts. With the heat and humidity this meant that there was a whole lot of sweating on our part, so we adopted the Japanese style headscarf. It was amazing to see how he has developed through trial and error, and of course skill, to create these thin and large pieces. We learned a lot from watching him work and came away from the experience inspired and thinking how important it is to persist past technical challenges in making work.

 

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