INWATER Collection

Water becomes clear in quiet flows, sometimes slightly turbid, shifting without ever taking a fixed form. The IN WATER jewelry collection captures these gentle fluctuations — the way water is never the same from one moment to the next.

A pale blue gradation inspired by this ever-changing quality. Clear layers and opaque layers overlap to create Gleichenia's distinctive texture — a bubble-like expression unique to each piece, handcrafted in our Tokyo studio.

INWATER began when we (Yu and Kanako) took a fresh look at glass as a material. Glass has traditionally been valued for transparency — clarity is considered its ideal state. We wanted to explore what happens when that premise is questioned.

Through experiments with the volume of glass and air, the temperature and time in the kiln, we arrived at a phenomenon called devitrification — the process by which glass loses its transparency. In conventional glassmaking, devitrification is considered a flaw, a "failure" to be avoided. But when we first encountered it unexpectedly during production — the layering of marbled patterns and transparent glass, unlike anything we had seen before — it was a joyful discovery.

This accidental expression became the foundation of INWATER. We chose to deliberately incorporate devitrification into the core of our design, embracing what others reject. This approach connects to the Japanese concept of mono no aware (もののあわれ) — the bittersweet awareness that all things are temporary, and that beauty exists precisely in moments of change. Just as devitrification is glass in the process of becoming something other than itself, mono no aware recognizes that what is most worth noticing is often what is in the middle of changing.

Transparency that ripples like a water surface overlaps with pale opacity, creating a texture that evokes quietness and depth. The fluctuations created by heat and time differ with each piece, ensuring no two are alike. Through repeated experimentation, this texture — once an accidental product — began to appear consistently while maintaining glass's inherent strength, eventually establishing itself as Gleichenia's signature expression.

The inseparable dual expressions of transparency and opacity create a lustrous depth through their overlapping. The light-containing layers quietly harmonize with the body, allowing skin to show through subtly, gently enhancing the contours of one's individuality. Rather than jewelry existing as something external, IN WATER brings the sensation of being within one's own underwater space.

Just as water exists without fixed form, always changing its appearance, the IN WATER collection aspires to become a soft presence — where jewelry merges with the wearer's body through the subtle transparency of skin showing through glass. Each piece is made in our Tokyo studio using our approach to pate de verre — crushed glass mixed with color powder and pigment, fired in a kiln, then cut and ground by hand. The devitrification effect — the characteristic cloudiness and marbled patterns — emerges during firing, and no two pieces produce the same result.