AKI SAKAIDA

Aki Sakaida (b. 1982, Japan) is a contemporary glass artist. Born into her family in Akita, Japan, who ran a tableware shop, Sakaida’s latent interests in craftsmanship found their beginnings here. Taking a regular job and entering the working world, Sakaida couldn’t shake the urge that she wanted to engage seriously in learning a craft. She enrolled into art school, graduating from Akita Municipal Junior College of Arts and Crafts in 2012, before relocating to Toyama Prefecture to work as an artist’s assistant and develop her practice within the glass studio here for five years. In 2017, she moved her base back to her hometown, refining her material process in her working studio. Her artistic career has since seen her participate in many group exhibitions across Japan and the UK. Sakaida’s forms are made from blown glass rather than moulds, making it almost impossible to recreate a piece in the same size. She captures her most beautiful shapes when she does not strive to achieve ‘ideal’ dimensions, valuing the happy accidents when making. Her transient works exhibit a combination of richly saturated and subtle tones, drawing on chromatic palettes found in nature. Their multifaceted forms display undulating curves, edges and rims, with a sleek and shiny interior contrasted to a textured outer body that is formed through the burning of wax onto the surface of the glass, resulting in the resemblance of ice. Her body of work titled ‘Kuyuri’ focuses on smoke-stained vessels with burnt wax which often unintentionally resembles an image of a natural scenery. She hopes that the burn marks from the wax will create an emotional response that resonates with people.