Toyama is known as “Toyama’s Medicine Seller.” To support the more than 300-year history of Toyama’s pharmaceutical culture, the manufacture of glass bottles to hold medicines flourished in the Toyama City area during the Meiji and Taisho eras, and Toyama boasted the largest share of the national market for this purpose. Toyama has developed into a city of glass, thanks to the abundant resources of such a historical background. Toyama is blessed with an environment that includes an institute for training glass artists and workshops that support their production, and is said to be one of the world’s leading glass cities. In such a city of glass, Toyama is known as one of the best glass cities in the world, with a “gentle, soft, and comfortable atmosphere. In such a glass town, there is an artist who creates glass works with the concept of “gentle, soft, and comfortable,” as if they were objects that touch the skin and are worn by the wearer. She is Rikie Shojiguchi of Shojiguchiya. She is a glass artist who has received numerous awards in Toyama and other parts of Japan, as well as internationally. Looking at the unique and gentle expression of the works she creates, everyone must be convinced that the concept was prepared for glass.
Mr. Shojiguchi values “sight,” “touch,” and “hearing” among the five senses when creating his works. She does not only blow the glass, but also shaves and polishes it, and finishes it with his unique senses. The glass seems to embody the key to the creation of her works, “Seeing with the hands. She says that he enjoyed watching glass artisans blow glass and their work processes, and her admiration for glass grew when the Toyama Glass Art Institute was established during his high school years. At the time, he did not have the knowledge or skills to take the entrance exam, so he enrolled in Toyama College of Art and Crafts, hoping to go on to an art school first. Around the time he graduated from the school, his longing for glass that he had felt in high school was rekindled, and as soon as he stopped by the Toyama Glass Studio and saw the work being done there, he thought, “I want to do this! and decided to apply to the Toyama Glass Art Institute. After a year of intense study, he successfully fulfilled his high school dream and received a ticket to the Toyama City Institute of Glass Art. Looking back, she says he could not forget the feeling of “the texture of sanding wood” when she was assigned to make a chair in one of his classes at the institute. Perhaps it was this experience that influenced his choice of glass as a material to create with her hands and to look at with his hands.
Shojiguchi’s “colorless works” have a unique softness and beauty. However, she did not start out making colorless works.
She said, “Glass doesn’t sell well unless it is colored.”
This was a common perception held by everyone when she started producing glass works as products. In the beginning, she also made colored works, but realized that she could not play with shapes when color was added. Unable to produce satisfactory works, she decided to take the plunge and “try it without color.
When she held a solo exhibition focusing on colorless glass works, the response was very positive. More than anything else, she felt comfortable and satisfied with her own work. Since then, she has created many works with little use of color.
Her representative work, “Fukura,” with its unique layered beauty, is created by not only blowing but also shaving the glass to give it its unique nuance. This work, which is created by touching, seeing, and feeling with the hands, was awarded the Silvio Vita Prize at the “Hokuriku Crafts and Contemporary Glass Crafts Exhibition” at the Rome Prize Exhibition Festival. Shojiguchi has also won awards for her numerous glass works, including objects and crafts, from 1998 to the present. She says that she chose glass as a material because she wanted to make things, but now she is able to create her works because of glass as a material. She will continue to create glass works that embody “gentle, soft, and comfortable. She will continue to produce glass works from Toyama that embody the concept of “gentle, soft, and comfortable.
