It was a great experience to exhibit my first interior design objects in Tokyo. In many ways Japan is a logical place for Glass Mountains – because mountains have a special role in local culture. They can be seen even sacred. Therefore it was easy to explain the philosophy behind the design: that each object has a soul.

 

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The Interior Lifestyle Tokyo design fair 2017 was held in Tokyo Big Sight that is the largest international convention venue in Japan. My glass design was a part of the Nordic Lifestyle exhibition in Scandinavian Pavilion.
The exhibition halls were beautiful and stylish. The show really was a good vantage point to Japanese design world. I noticed that most of the people spoke only Japanese so it was very important to have a expert interpreter. I was super lucky to have skilful Kanoko as my interpreter to help out!
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The workers attached the wall sticker on the wall. It was also very interesting to see how a large show like this was created in a fast and accurate tempo!

 

The way the huge design fair was build up was quite spectacular to watch. First the halls were full of bubble wrap, hammers, power cords and ladders when thousands of exhibiters opened up their cargo boxes. But suddenly when the clock struck six every detail was precise, wall stickers and podiums on their accurate place and the design event was ready for the opening day.

 

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It was great to get the glass mountains in the front page of the fair guide. It was a big help for reaching out interesting partners during the event!
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I was happy to see, how people really understood the design philosophy behind the glass mountains: how each mountain is unique and has it’s own “soul”.
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I was so happy to meet the ambassador of Finland and his wife. They also gave some good and cool hints for the future!
Vuoksi glasses are inspired by the melting ice. Each glass is unique like a snowflake.

 

When looking back this project has been in many ways a dream come true and all the pieces just magically clicked together. I have always wanted find ways to bring my design to the mysterious Japan. I got a great opportunity to start working together with my family company that also made it possible to start manufacturing glass mountains as a serial interior design object. It was also great to see how the local countryside fund in Suonenjoki jumped in to support our design journey. Glass mountains from a small countryside city travelled a great distance to Tokyo to find cool new opportunities! Thank you so much to Mansikka ry and Maaseuturahasto for supporting our design adventure in Japan!

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