
Transparent Exploration
By Arwen O’Reilly Griffith
Photos by Yoshisato Komaki
Mika Aokiโs glass-blown sculptures seemย otherworldly, until you look more closely.ย Then you realize how very tied to this worldย they are: inspired by mold spores, viruses,ย plants, life, and death, the clear glassย simultaneously makes abstract conceptsย concrete and vanishes before our very eyes.ย Born in Hokkaido, Japan, Aoki now lives inย London, where she is learningย English and studying at theย Royal College of Art. (Donโtย mistake her for a novice; sheโsย shown her work for years in Japan afterย studying art and glass blowing in Tokyo.)
Is she an artist or a scientist? Her resumรฉย proves her chops as an artist, but she says,ย โMy inspirations come from observationsย and conversations with scientists.โ Whileย creating new pieces, Aoki often visits labsย to spark ideas, and dreams of collaboratingย with scientists on her next body of work. Herย interest in things that canโt always be seenย with the naked eye lends itself perfectly toย glass. โUnless light shines on it, we cannotย confirm [its] existence,โ she writes. โThus Iย encountered one material which can exist asย the membrane of something invisible.โ
In an installation piece called Her Songsย Are Floating, an old car sits in darkness.ย Glass arches out of the car and within it,ย looking like transparent rootsย shooting into the interior. โIย try to make works that couldย make contact with physicalย and mental senses,โ Aoki says, and oneย canโt help but think of the battle betweenย humans and the natural world, life andย its end. Other works show sinuous glassย sculptures suspended in vitrines, explodingย from test tubes, and growing out of bottles.ย Sperm searches for ovum, virus for host,ย spore for sustenance. Surely the glass isย alive? Or at least singing? โIโm interested inย the phenomenon of life,โ she says simply.
Above is an excerpt from the pages of MAKE Volume 32: Design for Makers
Forget duct tape and baling wire โ now makers can design and manufacture things as beautiful as Apple and as slick as Dyson. Weโll show you how to conceive and visualize great-looking projects with our speed course in industrial design.
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