Having spent my years mainly in Hong Kong, China and in Singapore. I am always amazed by the culture and art in each country. It is a pity that some of these heritage are endangered and it is my hope to see more handmade items than the factory made.

Kiriko is a form of glasswork that dates back to the 1800s and involves grinding intricate Japanese patterns into the surface of glass and this project does it by hand. There will be glass blowing and then only it will be will turn them into kiriko. As each glass will be blown, cut, and polished by hand, there will be slight variations in color and shape and this as a mark of the craftsmanship that goes into making an item like this. 

There are several factors that make these glasses so expensive to produce, with the biggest being the amount of time it takes to make just one. Since these are completely handmade at each step of the process (hand-blown, hand-cut, and hand-polished), many hours go into making each individual glass. Also, these glasses involve an extensive amount of intricate cutting, which further adds to the time that it takes to make and polish them. As described above, "temigaki" hand-polishing requires re-tracing each cut several times with special polishing wheels and actually takes 2 to 3 times longer than the initial cutting process itself. 

Edo Kiriko is designated as the traditional handcrafts of Tokyo and Japan. Cut is very detailed, and finish is clear and brilliant. You can feel both Japan through Edo Kiriko patterns and the occidental through outstanding cut. It may take a few months to manufacture and ship this item, if it is out of stock. As each item is handmade, they may be slightly different in size, shape or shade of color.