Rinzen 凛然

Who is Rinzen?

Rinzen, written 凛然 and also known by its full name, Tokyo Glass Studio Rinzen (東京ガラス工房凛然), opened in Edogawa Ward, Tokyo, in January 2021. Coverage of the studio at the time described its founding cutters as craftsmen who had left a larger glass manufacturer to cut and sell under their own name rather than stay employees elsewhere.

What does the name mean?

The studio's own concept page takes its name from 威風凛然, ifu rinzen, a phrase for something dignified and imposing, and states its approach in one line: "硝子は、丁寧に仕上げれば仕上げる程それに応えてくれる素材", glass is a material that answers you back, the more carefully you finish it. The site does not name individual cutters; pieces are credited collectively as 凛然作, Rinzen-made, since design, cutting, polishing and inspection each pass through a different pair of hands before a piece is finished. Every piece is polished entirely by hand, and the studio sources coloured glass from glassmakers in the regions as well as Tokyo, which it ties to the wide colour range of its own work.

What do we carry from Rinzen?

What we have on hand from Rinzen right now covers three crystal-glass whisky and sake glasses: the sakura, cherry blossom, glass, the haku ja, white snake, whisky glass and the hyaku whisky glass. Browse the Rinzen collection to see the current range, since what is on the shelf shifts as pieces sell through.

How I found the shop

I visited Rinzen's shop and workshop in Edogawa Ward, Tokyo, on 8 April 2022, on the same day I also called at Tadano Glass nearby. Most of what I photographed that day is confidently placed at Rinzen: the sandwich board outside reading the shop's own opening hours, a craftsman working at the wheel with a wall calendar behind him, a wooden crate of finished tumblers in blue, red and black, and two guinomi cups still carrying their shelf labels, cut in the nanako, fish-roe, pattern and the kiku-shippo, chrysanthemum and seven-treasures, pattern. One further frame, a piece mid-cut with its pattern ground but the gold overlay not yet polished away, sits earlier in the same visit and close enough to the same workshop room that I am treating it as Rinzen too, though with slightly less certainty than the rest.

How do you look after it?

Wash Rinzen glass the way we wash any cut crystal we carry: by hand, in lukewarm water with a little neutral detergent, never in the dishwasher. Our cut-glass care guide has the full routine, and our Edo Kiriko guide explains the nanako and shippo patterns named on the shelf that day.