Glass Tokkuri Vessel by Seiten

These tokkuri sake servers were made at Glass Studio Seiten, on the island of Okinawa.

Glass of the type made at Seiten by Kiyoharu Matsuda and his team, is known as saisei glass. Saisei literally means ‘reborn’, and in glass it refers to a process to melt and recreate empty drinks bottles into beautiful forms.

Blended for texture and colour, the glass is heated from fragments, before being blown and swirled into new shapes.

Traditionally used to serve sake, tokkuri, are small vessels for the table with a variety of uses. These have added interest from the bubbles that have formed within the glass during the glass blowing process.

Saisei glass has deep connection to Okinawa’s post war history, as craftspeople used the materials they could find to create a new lineage in glass. The results today refract sunlight, and seem somehow to encapsulate it within their material.

Kiyoharu Matsuda as a peripatetic artisan in glass on Okinawa, who has now established his home at Seitan, is a representative of this reborn tradition. His items are a pleasure to use.

They are 7.5cm wide, and about 10.5cm high.

Each weigh around 270g, and have a capacity of 150ml.

As all are handmade, each piece is slightly different.