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glass blowing it's a lot like people
often compare to dance is really pace
that you can't explain it my name is
Peter IV I'm originally from Texas in
America I've been in Japan for about 17
years now I run a small glass program
here in Japan I think the most
recognizable pieces of my work are first
and foremost probably the soap bubble
holder because that was a piece that I
made in 1995 in the same way that glass
is like an almost nothing material also
bubble is just barely in existence I'm
gonna make a jar for keeping so Bob
think a couple of weeks so to have it
sit there and be still and be protected
and safe it's just this interesting kind
of juxtaposition most of the time you
don't even notice that glass is there
it's the closest material it's the
closest to nothingness
however I would have these goblets and
these colorful things and all these
things on my shelves but usually I
wanted to have a glass of whiskey or
glass of water or tea or just pick out
it and most simple things now I make
mostly functional work for the coffee
jar the rice jars the the larger capsule
light the wirework I think the
combination of glass with one other
material or two other materials is
something that I really like a lot it's
the most popular work I think that's
what really set my work apart originally
in Japan from other people
like sportsman like challenge of
actually making class I was pretty
hooked the balance or how soft it is or
how it feels on heating it it's not
something you can teach to people have
to you don't talk a lot you know it's
just you get used to it and things kind
of come together and if you wait too
long the piece is just gonna break I
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first came to Japan I didn't have this
burning desire to go specifically to
Japan and then I came and did one
project hearing that's when I met my my
wife then she had the opportunity to
come teach here in Toronto I think
there's gonna be a good experience for
her and a good experience for the child
and I'll just give this up and be a
househusband toyama it's really nice to
be close to the ocean and also close to
the mountains and it is a beautiful
landscape around us you know
and that's a Nisshin we came here lived
in this house house itself was built
just after the war I was able to buy
this building quite cheaply came out to
about ten thousand US dollars I designed
all I am probably drew forty different
floor plans or more right now the
situation is that my ex-wife lives right
down the road my kids live with her for
the most part I go over there I make
breakfast in the mornings during the
weekdays I make dinner two three nights
a week and the afternoons when the kids
finish school they come here read books
I like to spend time with my kids making
things and I live with each guy and she
has a great relationship with the kids
she does 90 percent of the work that
that we do but she's making everything
happen I can't give her enough credit
and she's very understanding of this
situation that of the balance that I
found with my Keiko now but now they now
we found a way that things are kind of
working for us
I have a kind of a personality disorder
where even my hobbies become work I just
I study it intensely and it kind of
overcomes me
yeah it's hard to make money I mean when
you turn on the furnace it's on 24 hours
a day and it costs money you won't use
it I think the hardest part for me is
that I could not keep up with you know
people would order stuff and I couldn't
keep up with it I couldn't make it fast
enough so we would have customers
waiting for like two years
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for me making something was never like
I'm going to express this and I try to
create an environment in which those
things kind of are utilized or when you
raise a glass and take the last sip of
water or tea out of the glass and you're
looking at the inside that glass and
experiencing that environment
you're not thinking I'm supposed to be
looking at this it's something that
happens I challenge myself every day at
work to push and push and push to become
a better glass worker
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