One day, the glass we took out of the kiln had turned cloudy and white.
Something meant to be transparent was not. At first, it was a failure. Light no longer passed straight through; it scattered slowly inside. There was a quiet depth to it, as if a milky mist were suspended within.
Drawn to this expression we had never seen before, we experimented again and again to establish it as a texture of Gleichenia's own. Letting go of the idea that glass must be transparent was a turning point for us.
Working with the Transformation of Glass
Devitrification is a phenomenon in which glass forms crystals as it is heated and cooled, losing its transparency. In the glass industry, it has long been regarded as a defect to be avoided. For Gleichenia, encountering this quality became the starting point for the INWATER collection.
We noticed that convection currents of heat during firing make the density of the glass uneven, creating distortion. We searched for a way to draw on this quality while keeping the glass strong. Kiln temperature, volume, time. Changing the conditions little by little. No two results are ever the same. We never know until we open the kiln.
Bubbled Surfaces and Light in Water
Some pieces are traced with faint, net-like crystal patterns. In others, fine bubbles layer delicately, like foam rippling across the surface of water. Each one took on a different expression.
Where transparency and opacity overlap, a soft gradient of light blue emerges, a quiet shimmer as if seen underwater. We named this texture INWATER.
