This glass violin blown from a single piece of borosilicate glass is billed as the world's first by its manufacturer.
The Hario Glass company of Japan is known for its borosilicate glass tea and coffee pots that offer an elegant and transparent means of brewing hot caffeinated beverages and serving them in style. Founded in 1921, the company’s name means “King of Glass,” and, like any ambitious monarch, Hario designers have been pushing to expand their kingdom’s territory. What’s unexpected is where they’re heading next—musical instruments.
Leaving behind tableware completely, Hairo has produced what they are calling the world’s first glass violin. Made from a single piece of borosilicate, it features the standard violin shape and scale, and includes some decorative engraving along the sides. Named the Hirom Glass Violin, each instrument is individually numbered. To hear the unusually clear tone of the instrument, click here for a pop-up video.
According to the SPGRA design blog, the violin is just one of four instruments Hairo is producing. They state that there is also a glass Chinese harp, a cello, and a bamboo flute.
An article by Reuters published earlier this year reports that Hairo is also producing a tsuzumi drum to complete an ensemble of traditional Japanese musical instruments in glass. The article goes on to state that it took 13 of the Hairo’s flameworkers over 19 months and ten million yen (approximately $109,000) to create the five instruments.
Information on how the instruments were made is available from this video in Japanese from the Hairo company.