Leave Arise Coffee Roasters and go right a few meters. There will be sign that reads “Glass-Lab”..
“Welcome, please enter and look around,” as instructed you enter the shop.
This is a specialty store that sells homemade glass and glass making machines. Some of these old style polishing machines can no longer be found in other parts of Japan.
The owner is Taakyuki Shina. His grandfather started operating the glass making shop, and has since been passed down from Takayuki’s father to brother, and eventually from his brother to him. It is a family of craftsman. After graduating from university, Takayuki began working as an regular office employee. He has used this business experience to help start Glass-Lab which sells originally designed glass through an online store.
Before Takayuki joined his family business he still occasionally made glass for friends and family. On one occasion to commemorate his former teacher’s retirement, he gave his beer loving teacher a personally handmade beer glass. It was carved with his teacher’s silhouette and messages from other friends. His teacher was fond of the present but unfortunately aftewards he suddenly passed away.
In response, Takayuki was inspired to use his glass making ability to provide a service that touches the heart. It was during this time when he decided a new path.
Since his grandfather's generation, this shop has polished, cut, and drilled glass. His brother is also a craftsman and uses a sandblasting process to add names or designs to glass products.
A weekend workshop is also available where you can tour the studio and experience the process of glass making. During the workshop some people make glass for special occasions and others make glass for everyday use. Using these handmade products can give everyday life a little more color.
Takayuki activities don’t stop here. He also participates in the Tomioka Hachiman Shrine festival, which is one of the three largest festivals in the Tokyo area. Throughout the town he helps manage the carrying of the shrine. He remembers the sense of crisis he had when the young population and those responsible for the management of the shrine were shrinking. But every year more people moved to the neighborhood, joining those who had long lived in Fukagawa. To bring these old and new residents together he has helped create a new speaking event called “you talk”.
This neighborhood glass studio has tied together those who make and those who buy, and it has connected the old and new faces of the area.