RESPECT FOR GLASS

The history of glass can be tracked back to the ancient Mesopotamia area, at around 1500 to 1000 B.C. This kind of special material mainly developed in the western countries instead of eastern, partly due to the fact that the elements of minerals are different and the orient preferred jade, porcelain and ceramics more. 

Roughly reading through the history of glass development, I have found one phenomenon very interesting, appeared in both east and west, that there were periods when people produced glass to imitate the beauty of other materials like porcelain, lacquerware, jade, hardstone and so on.

Porcelain Glass Vases, about 1755-1760, England, probably Southern Staffordshire. CMOG.

Sword Accessories 谷纹玻璃剑璏[zhì]，战国 长6.2厘米，宽1.8厘米，高1.3厘米，1954年长沙枫树山出土

The biggest reason of this imitation is the far low cost of the glass material than others. This is quite understandable because that's how people think, even in modern life, as cheap as possible. On the one hand, these kind of products have met the demands of west, which had a positive effect on the market. However, comparing to porcelain and jade, glass is more fragile and has poorer performance in heat resistance. In a product design perspective, simply imitating the appearance doesn't really solve the problem of using.     

Even though this imitation can be seen as really interesting material experiments, when looking back to this part of history, somehow it hindered the development of GLASS. In my own words, I would say that's the lack of "RESPECT FOR GLASS".

Every kind of material has its own features. Glass is cheap. Glass is fragile. Glass is transparent. Glass is chemically stable. Hot glass can flow and can be curved. When you fully take the advantage of the glass are you showing the RESPECT FOR GLASS. This requires a deep understanding toward the material, not only glass. In my own point of view, there is no point making glass look like other materials. Glass is glass. 

Glass-porcelain fusion by Misa Tanaka, ‘Shizukana Sora’ a collection of porcelain dishes with glass bases.

A series of glass chair.

If we see the glass as our own naughty kids, he has his own strengths and weaknesses. Maybe an embrace is much more better than making him a top student as your neighbor's.

How to use the broken glass?.......