• Kensuke creates delicate glass vessels with a woven texture
• His pieces evoke a sense of gentle expansion and swelling
• He joined the Toyama Glass Studio in 2023, where he continues to produce his works

Kensuke Takeoka creates glass vessels that convey a sense of warmth and fullness, composed of soft, transparent colours and textured like basketry. His distinctive approach to glassblowing developed while he was studying in the glass programme at the department of crafts at Tama Art University. At this time he started to consider how to weave baskets from glass. Kensuke’s interest in bamboo basketry influenced his style, which he further advanced at the Toyama Municipal Glass Art Institute. He draws inspiration from the Venetian filigrana technique, which incorporates thin rods of opaque or coloured glass into a clear mass, allowing for infinite variations in pattern. “This method allows me to explore forms that, while contained within a grid, evoke expansion and volume,” he says. Kensuke’s pieces are collected by the Toyama Glass Art Museum and can be seen around Toyama, where his practice is based.