artist<\/a>\u2018s food works more than a visual trick. To make glass read as custard, dough, jelly, sauce, or fried skin, Ito has to work with the way the material already wants to move. Too much control would make the pieces stiff, and too little would lose the shape. The best works seem caught in between, as if the glass has agreed to pretend it\u2019s food for a moment.<\/p>\n![\"japanese](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/miwa-ito-glass-food-art-japan-designboom-03.jpg\")
Classic Jelly, Miwa Ito<\/p>\n
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\u2018glassman poo poo\u2019 opens up the process<\/p>\n
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Miwa Ito shares much of this making through Glassman poo poo, a video project that brings the hot shop into a more casual, online space. In the clips, the process can feel almost like cooking. Molten glass is gathered, shaped, cut, added to, reheated, and assembled until a dessert, a dumpling, or a small creature appears from the furnace.<\/p>\n
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The videos help explain why the work travels so well online. They have the satisfaction of watching something familiar come together through an unfamiliar material, but they also show how physical the process is. Breath expands the form. Tools press into the surface. Heat keeps the glass workable. The hand has to keep pace with the material. What looks cute in the final image is built through speed, repetition, and a very specific kind of attention.<\/p>\n
![\"japanese](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/miwa-ito-glass-food-art-japan-designboom-04.jpg\")
Onigiri, Miwa Ito<\/p>\n
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mugs, animals, and objects with moods<\/p>\n
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Miwa Ito\u2019s larger body of glass work moves beyond food into vessels, animals, and small character-like sculptures. Her Goofy Goblets tilt and wobble in bright colors. Slime Mugs and Chubby Mugs seem to puff, droop, or swell, as if the glass is still halfway between liquid and object. Vases and saucers follow the same logic, sitting somewhere between functional tableware and little sculptural personalities.<\/p>\n
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Her animals and vessels share the same strange threshold as the food works. They are recognizable, but only just. A mug may droop into something creature-like, or a fish keeps the rounded, toy-like finish without losing the hard shine of glass.<\/p>\n
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The strangeness comes from that slight mismatch, where the object looks friendly but still feels untouchable. Meanwhile, nothing feels overly polished or precious because the set of handmade objects are allowed to be strange in this way.<\/p>\n
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gratitude, appetite, and the everyday table<\/p>\n
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The food sculptures also connect to the artist\u2019s idea around eating. Ito has linked the works to \u2018itadakimasu\u2019, the Japanese phrase said before a meal as an expression of gratitude. Literally translating to mean \u2018I humbly receive\u2019, it gives thanks for the food itself, but also for the lives, labor, and care behind it. \u2018It\u2019s a quiet thank you \u2014 for life, for care, for the unseen,\u2018 the artist explains.<\/p>\n
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Ito\u2019s overall practice brings this traditional practice into a more youthful light. She is not making glassblowing feel current by adding technology or forcing it into a futuristic shape. Rather, she\u2019s doing something lighter and maybe more effective. She lets the old meet the language of cartoons, snacks, and online image culture without losing the difficulty of the hand.<\/p>\n
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The work is accessible before it is explained. Viewers can immediately understand the appeal of a glass donut. Then the process catches up, and the object becomes more impressive. Its softness is an illusion and its humor depends on a material that has to be handled with real discipline.<\/p>\n
![\"japanese](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/miwa-ito-glass-food-art-japan-designboom-07.jpg\")
Strawberry Mochi, Miwa Ito<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"please do not eat miwa ito\u2019s desserts \u00a0 Please do not eat Miwa Ito\u2019s desserts. The flan is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":663234,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[6225,6485,6486,213130,1120,96,27394,12237,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-663233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-crafting-the-future","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-food-art","tag-glass-art-and-design","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663233","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=663233"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663233\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/663234"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=663233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=663233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=663233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"japanese](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/miwa-ito-glass-food-art-japan-designboom-01.jpg\")