Maki-e is one of Japan’ s traditional forms of craftwork. Developed throughout our history and based on much of the culture of this beautiful country, the technique of maki-e was originally used to decorate urushi lacquer ware, such as bowls and ceremonial tea sets, by sprinkling on gold dust. For our customers to enjoy this maki-e at a more casual level we developed a special technique to apply urushi lacquer to glass. This technique, realized to design and to produce our “gold maki-e glass,” is similar to a sand picture produced on paper by sprinkling colored sand over a pattern drawn in glue.

Substitute gold dust for the sand and urushi lacquer for the glue and you have maki-e. That said, maki-e production is not so simple. Maki-e has always required time and concentration as steps are often repeated as the whole process of “taka-age (painting),” “sumi-togi (polishing),” “katame (solidifying),” and “migaki (polishing)” is perfected.

As the craftsmen are engaged in this long process ‘steps,’ their “waza (skills)” are transferred to maki-e through their “ki (spirit),” with the final fruit being their “beauty.” (Please refer to the production process page.)