32 | History of Glass: Japanese Glass Manufacturers and Handmade Glass Factories (Part 2)

Hello🎵

Following on from last time, I'd like to talk about Adelia, the sales company for Ishizuka Glass. The name Adelia is said to have been coined by members of the NHK program "Watashi no Himitsu" (My Secret), after the Adriatic Sea, one of the birthplaces of glass. From there, the brand continued to expand and has now been loved by everyone for over 50 years.

The glasses handled by Adelia include not only automated glasses manufactured by its parent company, Ishizuka Glass, but also plum wine bottles and airtight containers made at Ishizuka Glass's bottle factory, as well as products purchased from domestic handmade glass factories. Particularly after Kamei Glass went bankrupt and ceased operations in 1997 (Heisei 9), in response to strong requests from wholesalers like us who deal in glass, as well as retailers and department stores, Adelia began handling many products from domestic handmade glass factories and overseas glass manufacturers in Germany, Italy, France, and the Czech Republic, which Kamei Glass had previously sold, thereby greatly contributing to the expansion and maintenance of the glass market.

I believe this was a wise and excellent decision, both in terms of management and sales strategy for Ishizuka Glass/Adelia, and for the glass market and customers.

Thank you very much♪

In particular, Hokuyo Glass in Aomori Prefecture sold almost 100% of its products to Kamei Glass during the Kamei Glass era and was highly dependent on it for capital, personnel, and technology. Originally, it was a factory that made glass floats for fishing, which was popular in its local Aomori, but with Kamei Glass's ideas and technology, it has manufactured many glasses, vases, and artworks under the Tsugaru Vidro brand. Vases made by highly skilled craftsmen using the "Chubuki" (free-blowing) technique without molds are now almost impossible to produce, as there are hardly any craftsmen left who can make them. Currently, products are manufactured using techniques such as spin forming, pressing, molding, and pouring. "Spin forming," in particular, is a method of shaping glass using centrifugal force by rotating a mold. Dropping the heated glass into the mold at the optimal amount and timing, and adjusting the rotation speed to create beautiful patterns, are all manufacturing processes performed individually by craftsmen. Furthermore, Tsugaru Vidro offers a rich variety of colors, and high skill is required to maintain the same size while accounting for the different coefficients of expansion and hardness that vary depending on the color of the glass (the composition of the ingredients that create the fabric).

The inspiration for Hokuyo Glass to start manufacturing colored glass came from a sudden idea by a craftsman. Among the many coastlines in Aomori, there is Shichiri Nagahama, a particularly beautiful sandy beach with abundant green nature. One day, a craftsman had an idea and added a handful of sand from Shichiri Nagahama as a raw material, and the glass changed to an indescribably deep green. That warm hue became beloved in Aomori and throughout Japan.

From then on, they began to seriously work on color creation. At that time, many glass factories and workshops were going out of business. They began receiving requests to "reproduce the same colors" as art pieces made by other workshops, and by reproducing each subtle difference, they have developed the multi-colored and diverse product line that continues to this day.

Hokuyo Glass is now one of the Ishizuka Glass group companies, just like Adelia.