Qualia Glassworks
Gifu, Japan

Since Akiko Hayashi was a little girl, she’s been drawn to glassworks, beautiful bottles, marbles.  They held wonder for her when she looked at them.  As she grew up and took chemistry classes, she loved the quality of the beakers, flasks and began to collect and display them in her room.  When she found a glass-making class to dedicate herself to it and then continued to pursue new knowledge and techniques working at glass factories and studios, in 2010, Hayashi opened her own studio qualia-glassworks, where she only makes pieces that she would want for herself, truly living the dream.

Photographs courtesy of @masashikuromoto.