Ryukyu Glass

Making glass has been a tradition in Okinawa for a long while. Here are some photos from Seikichi Inamine's studio in Yomitan, Okinawa.

One of Inamine-san's techniques is to dip his pieces in clay, giving it an earthy look.






In Okinawa it was once common to use discarded bottles instead of raw materials to make glass. This technique began after WWII when American soliders left the island impoverished (to say the least) and littered with empty Coke bottles. Inamine-san is one of the only glass artists on the island to continue using this technique.