Designed to replicate the form of cut bamboo, this pitcher by Tokyo’s Hirota Glass company both references a classic Japanese motif, and shows the firm’s skill in working in glass. The thin bamboo stem vessel make for a stylish pour in sake of course, but for any drink that is selected. It can be paired with a glass from the same series. It is 21cm high, and 6.5cm in diameter. The vessel weighs 250g. About Hirota Glass Hirota Glass were founded in Tokyo in 1899, and were at the early forefront of adapting the imported practice of glass manufacture to Japanese tastes. From their base in Sumida, in Tokyo’s deep cultural centre, Hirota imbued the old Edo aesthetic of ‘iki’ (used to refer to a sense of style), into their cut glass and other works. The firm had a particular flowering in their output in the Taishō period (1912 -1926), when creativity in Japan was relatively free and a distinct design style was born. Under their fourth generation of Hirota family leadership today, the company