"Co-Chair and Contribution" at: Edo Kiriko: The Art of Japanese Cut Crystal symposium
Resource type
Presentation
Creator (person)
Rothwell, Sarah
Abstract
This one-day symposium will explore through the medium of cut crystal the shared culture and heritage that exists between Scotland and Japan.
This event is led by Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) in partnership with the Horiguchi-Kiriko glass studio based in Tokyo, Japan. A studio specialising in Edo-Kiriko a traditional type of Japanese cut crystal. The symposium will host a range of speakers, a live demonstration of glass cutting (with an object handling session) and an object showcase at ECA. This event revolves around the internationally famed Japanese glass master Toru Horiguchi. The symposium hopes to trigger debate and discourse around the lost art of crystal cutting in the UK. The event aims to introduce Edo-Kiriko, Japanese cut crystal to new audiences and act as a catalyst for a new material cultural exchange between Scotland and Japan. This project is driven by the historical glassmaking connections between these two countries, which will draw upon a joint history that dates to the 1870s-1880s, when three glassmakers from Scotland helped the Japanese modernise their glass industry.
With their advice, assistance and instruction in all kinds of modern Western-style glassmaking, Japan’s first truly industrial glass factory was established in Tokyo. Included in this pioneering project was the country’s first workshop for the direct transmission of Western-style cutting and engraving skills. The symposium will address the shared material culture and heritage that exists between these two glassmaking countries and the losses that the now diminished UK glass scene faces. New perspectives on the value of exchanging and sharing intangible cultural heritage will be explored through the transference of specialist glassmaking knowledge, skills and meaning. The speakers at this event will include master glass cutter Toru Horiguchi, glass historians Sally Hadden and Dr Jill Turnbull, social historian Professor Aaron William Moore, glass engraver Alison Kinnaird, glass designer and educator Dr Jessamy Kelly and Chris Blade the CEO of Cumbria Crystal.
Event title
Edo Kiriko: The Art of Japanese Cut Crystal symposium
Publisher
Edinburgh College of Art
Rights statement
In Copyright