Takumi Takahashi
Takumi Takahashi, a professional craftsman with great skill and sensibility, is the representative of Takumi Kiriko.
While making products, they only use 24 lead crystal which gives a very luxury atmosphere to the glasses. Regarding the color layer feature of lead crystal, the polished part is looking almost transparent and has a very shining gradation. It is called in Japanese “Bokashi”, which is one of the characteristic of Takumi style.
One of the feature of finishing, is to polish by using hand with a tree board and cork, and the another one is called “acid polishing”, using chemicals.
When you touch these sharpened edges, you can feel every single elaborated pieces of the beautiful pattern of Takumi.
Representative of
Takumi Cut-Glass Factory

Takumi Takahashi
Representative of Kiriko Glass Industrial Art Research center
Member of Applied Arts Association
Member of Glass Applied Arts Assocation
Vice President of New Applied Arts Association
Biography
1941
Born in Osaka.
1958
After graduating high school, he started to work at his grand father’s workshop.
1964
Started his own workshop, called Takahashi Glass
1980
Studied under Mr.Seisuke Yuri (The leading master of Satsuma Kiriko)
1982
Started to reconstruct Satsuma Kiriko style
1985
Exhibition”Three master-hand craftsmen who reconstructed the Satsuma Kiriko” in Takashimaya Department store, Kyoto
1994
Winner of Japanese Traditional Art Crafts Exhibition, (continued winning ten times)
2000
New Industrial Art Exhibition, Received Yomiuri Bunka Center Prize
2006
New Industrial Art Exhibition, Receiving Mayor of Osaka City Prize
2006
A21 International Art Exhibition (Germany), exhibit
History of Kiriko and Satsuma Kiriko
The first cut glass was made in Osaka in the middle of Edo Period, and soon it became well known in Edo (now Tokyo) as well. The people started to call it as Edo Kiriko, allude to japanese cut glass style.
In the late of Edo period, the industry was booming and the influence of Edo Kiriko got stronger and an other clan called Satsuma(now Kagoshima prefecture), started to make colored transparent cut glass. That was the Satsuma Kiriko.
Satsuma Kiriko had the skill and sense to find the taste what Japanese people like the most and they made very high level products. However they could not survive for a long time in the disordered of Tokugawa period.
They have been forgotten for many years, but the top craftsmen of glass art have started to review the legacy of Satsuma Kiriko in the end of 20 century, and it is ressurected again.
Main characterisitic of Satsuma Kiriko is the Bokashi (gradation), which appears after polishing carefully the material.

What’s Bokashi? It is one of the technique of cut glass. The color of glass gets thinner as thickend glass is polished. The deeper it’s polished, the thinner color becomes. The gradation of color could be changed by polisihing.This was the only technique Satuma had.
As well as this Bokashi, deep cutting is also the great attractiveness of Satsuma Kiriko.

Please Note:
All products are made in Takumi cut glass factory. The products made by craftsman Takumi Takahashi, is described as it is.
Kimiko Yasuda is the number one disciple of Takumi. She received many prizes in Japanese exhibition.