The Hario Glass company of Japan makes glass tea and coffee pots. However, near the turn of the century, the company decided to make a violin and a cello. They began with the violin and called it the Hirom Glass violin.
Construction
This video shows how Hario artists created the violin. They employed similar techniques to make the cello.
Screenshot showing the stages of the cello’s construction. From the Hario website: https://www.hario.com./whatsnew/make_cello.html.
Step 1 of the Construction
For the first stage of construction, which involved putting melted glass into a cello-shaped mold, and blowing the glass to create the shape, they made 40 successful cello bodies. The glassblowers had to be highly skilled and use intuitive breath control to create a consistent thickness.
Step 2 of the Construction
Only ten cellos survived the second stage when the makers had to cut away the excess glass and create a hole (required for resonance) in the body.
Step 3 of the Construction
They only completed one cello from the original starting batch of 40. At this stage, they added the cello’s fittings and decorations.
Five Glass Instruments
Hario also made a glass Chinese harp, a bamboo flute, and a tsuzumi drum. Reuters reported that
It took 13 of the firm’s artisans over 19 months and ten million yen $109,000 (67,400 pounds) to create the five instruments. [violin, cello, Chinese harp, bamboo flute, and tsuzumi drum]
A Unique Instrument
Hario announced that their cello was the only cello made from glass in existence in 2004. Although there are other glass cellos now, the Hario cello is still the only blown glass cello of which we are aware.
Cellist Yoko Hasegawa performed on the cello in Tokyo on 14 December 2004.
Please contact us if you have more information about this cello. Thank you.
Sources
- “Glass Gives New Sheen to Traditional Japanese Music.” Reuters, Thomson Reuters, 21 Jan. 2010, uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE60K2KS20100121.
- HARIO Co., Ltd., global.hario.com/.
- “Untitled Video about Violin Construction.” HARIO V60 Coffee Dripper, www.javys.com/hario/video/violin_production_popup.htm.
- “Untitled Video of Violin Performance.” HARIO V60 Coffee Dripper, www.javys.com/hario/video/violin_perfrom_popup.htm.
- “The World’s First Glass Violin.” Glass Violin, www.javys.com/hario/newproduct/violin.htm.
- “ガラスのチェロ: HARIO株式会社.” ガラスのチェロ | HARIO株式会社, www.hario.com/whatsnew/cello.html.
- “製造工程: チェロ: ガラス楽器: HARIO株式会社.” 製造工程 | チェロ | ガラス楽器 | HARIO株式会社, www.hario.com/whatsnew/make_cello.html.
- 長谷川陽子オフィシャルサイト, www.yoko-hasegawa.com/.