Shibari Glass is a project that started from the idea of preserving rope-kisses in glass. Rope-kisses are marks left to the skin from shibari bondage that quickly fade, the fleeting evidence of being held by ropes. In a translation from skin to glass, Shibari Glass can be seen as a caring embrace, the squeezing and re-forming not only of the material itself but of the artist as well. 

The works are produced in a process of mutual embodied holding, based on consent and sensitivity. When the artist ties the hot glass, as the dominant actor they must take care of the material as it would be their own. Listening, sensing, and empathising with the glass, giving it structure yet letting it take a form that comes naturally. The objects are pushed to the point just before breaking, which has to be considered individually for each piece. The glass is left with unique marks of a holding, much like people are left to bear the marks of their experiences, both positive and negative, which make them who they are. How we are cared for contributes to what makes us human. Could we extend this loving care towards non-human factors (such as glass) as well?

The objects are free-blown out of opaque coloured glass. The ropes are traditionally hand-twisted out of heat resistant carbon fibre and then used to tie the glass while hot. In Shibari Glass - Held in Embrace, the consensual dialogue between artist, glassblower, rope and glass works as an emotionally and culturally reparative exploration, where the power is given back to the formed material. The tear between designer, craftsperson and material is repaired with conscious compassionate collaboration in the caring act of reciprocal becoming. 

Definition of rope practice:

Ordean, Iris, and Heath Pennington. 2019. Rope Bondage and Affective Embodiments: A rhizomatic analysis. Corpo Grafías Estudios críticos de y desde los cuerpos 6, no. 6: 64-77.

Materials: glass, carbon fibre, hemp rope

Glass Blowers: Slate Grove & Zachary Compton

Photos: Anne Kinnunen