Glass, Glass, Carpentry, Glass

Hanada: Could you tell us about your journey leading up to your work with glass?

Kohei Wada : I graduated with a humanities degree from a regular university and took a typical job. After a while, though, I started thinking about turning my lifelong love for making things into a career. That said, it was just a vague idea, so the only things that really came to mind were ceramics or glass (laughs).

Hanada: And so you chose glass.

Kohei Wada : I decided to attend the Toyama Institute of Glass Art. The school leaned more toward an artistic focus, so my work there centered mostly on creating sculptural objects. I did things like casting—pouring molten glass into plaster molds—to make glass toy pistols and the like. I was doing that sort of thing all the time.

Hanada: You must have learned a great deal about glass there.

Kohei Wada : Glasswork is generally divided into three main categories: hot work, cold work, and kiln work, and Toyama is a place that teaches you all of them comprehensively. After Toyama, I spent time in the glass department at the Seto New Century Craft Center. Seto is a pottery town, but it is also a place where you can source silica sand, which is the raw material for glass.

Hanada: What did you do after that?

Kohei Wada : Actually, I stopped working with glass for a time. I ended up starting a sort of apprenticeship with a carpenter. Well, I certainly got scolded a lot there (laughs). My main memory is just running around all day long.

Hanada: That is an unexpected turn. Your current work might not have existed in the world today. We are glad you returned to glass.

Kohei Wada : However, about three months in, I had an accident and suffered a serious injury. Since I was working deep in the mountains at the time, I had to be evacuated from there by an emergency helicopter. When I regained consciousness at the hospital, the master carpenter told me, “You can still come back whenever you are ready,” but…

Hanada: Even if the master felt you were welcome back, whether you actually wanted to return is a different story (laughs).

Kohei Wada : Exactly (laughs). Still, that experience was truly invaluable. Even though it was a short period, I learned just how wide my emotional range could be—experiencing both deep frustration and moments of joy. It was incredibly rigorous and pushed me to my absolute limits. I suppose it was my initiation into the real world.

Hanada: That is a rather extreme initiation.

Three Elements

Kohei Wada : A bit later, I joined the Sai Glass Studio in Kawasaki, where I was able to properly relearn glassblowing from the ground up. Looking back now, even though I had watched highly skilled people work in Toyama and Seto, I did not yet have the eye to truly see what they were doing, so I had not fully understood it.

Hanada: What was it that finally became clear to you there?

Kohei Wada : The essential factors for shaping glass crystallized in my mind. To put them into words, they are three elements: temperature, rotation, and center axis.

Hanada: First, what do you mean by temperature?

Kohei Wada : It means managing the heat so the glass expands beautifully and remains easy to work with. If the temperature drops too low, it expands unevenly. However, there are areas where you want the glass to stay firm, so simply heating everything uniformly is not the goal. It is about knowing exactly how much to heat the specific part you want to shape.

Hanada: What about rotation?

Kohei Wada : In glassblowing, you are constantly turning the pipe as you work. You speed up or slow down that rotation depending on the task. For instance, when I want to set a specific shape, I might suddenly increase the speed significantly.

Hanada: What happens if your speed is insufficient?

Kohei Wada : Take the stem of a goblet, for example. You attach a gather of glass to the bottom and shape it outward using tools. If the rotation is too slow and does not match the pressure you are applying, you end up flattening the glass rather than shaping it outward. By aligning the rotational force with the applied pressure, it expands into a beautiful, clean circle.

Hanada: And the third element, the center axis?

Kohei Wada : Since glassblowing involves shaping while rotating, the forms are basically axisymmetric. The axis refers to that central line of symmetry, and you must maintain that center perfectly. If it wavers, the finished piece will lose its balance and stability.

Crafting My Own Approach to Glass

Hanada: What kind of glass tableware do you aim to create?

Kohei Wada : Glass techniques themselves have changed very little since ancient Roman times, so when looking for inspiration, I naturally turn to antique objects. Pieces that have survived for a long time are often visually and technically natural, without any forced elements. I am particularly fond of Venetian glass, and while learning from those traditions, I want to bring a contemporary impression to my own work.

Hanada: While the glass you make is simple, there is always a unique twist to the forms.

Kohei Wada : There are plenty of inexpensive, durable, mass-produced glasses out there. I use them myself and fully appreciate their reliability and ease of use. That is precisely why, when creating as an artist, I want to add something that those commercial products simply do not have.

Hanada: Currently, you are also focusing a lot of energy on lamps.

Kohei Wada : When making tableware like drinking glasses, you hold an ideal shape in mind from the very start and systematically build toward it. With lamps, however, I can explore ideas more freely, and they are incredibly fun to make.

Looking Around

Hanada: I look forward to seeing your distinctive style develop further.

Kohei Wada : Lately, it has really struck me that you can only ever do what you are capable of doing. It sounds obvious, but you cannot create beyond your current level of skill. The only option is to steadily expand that boundaries.

Hanada: And along with that, your concepts and ideas expand as well.

Kohei Wada : In terms of ideas, I find myself constantly looking around without even realizing it—always wondering if there is something out there that could be reinterpreted in glass. I am looking around when I visit a shopping mall, and I am looking around just walking down the street (laughs).

Hanada: The everyday town scenery I see must look entirely different through your eyes.

Future Vision

Hanada: Is there anything specific you would like to undertake moving forward?

Kohei Wada : Having recently gone independent, I currently work entirely on my own. I frequently find myself thinking, “If only I had one more hand,” or “If only I had two more.” Glassblowing is fundamentally designed around teamwork, so trying to do it alone often sets limits on what is possible. If I can increase the number of people in the studio—for example, with my glasses—I could incorporate many more intricate details into the stems. It would also expand the variety of forms I can produce.

With that in mind, I want to build my own production team in the future. I am not sure how many years down the road that will be, though.

Hanada: Thank you very much. Is there anything else you would like to add before we finish?

Kohei Wada : I hope this sort of conversation is alright. I have never been particularly good at talking about myself or explaining things to people…

Hanada: No, not at all. It was a very meaningful conversation. Thank you so much.