A World Beneath the Waves — licca glass "in the sea"

At SORA, part of Taisho Glass in Otaru, we are now carrying "in the sea," a series by glass artist Rika Kobayashi of licca glass.

"The first time I was drawn into the sea and dived in, what opened up before me was a beautiful other world I had never imagined." The artist's own words describe this series — works that carry the wonder of that moment, and her longing for the ocean, straight into glass.

The stillness of being wrapped in water. The sound of your own breathing. The countless bubbles rising from the seabed. Glass is remarkably good at holding on to things you can only see if you are there. Tiny bubbles suspended deep inside a clear layer look as though a single exhaled breath underwater has been kept exactly as it was.

Made while thinking of a longing for the vast sea, as the artist puts it — and true to that, a surprisingly deep landscape opens up inside a piece that fits in the palm of your hand.

If you visit Otaru this summer, please come to SORA and hold one in your hands. Each time you let the light through, a slightly different sea appears.