Glass Butterfly

It has been three days since I met Miwa Kawai face to face.

The 42-year-old middle-aged woman is extremely petite. She can only stand about 150 centimeters straight. Apart from the fine lines on her face, she looks like a junior high school student. She has a free-spirited and considerate personality. And communicate with him in English.

"I've seen your little rabbit! And the cherry blossom tree!" When talking about the work, she moved closer with gestures, and her eyes were bright: "It feels like healing the soul!"

"Your work is the one. I saw it when I was in school. It is very beautiful. Although it has no color, it has a special sense of mystery." Ruan Youqing felt a little regretful, "It's a pity that I only saw photos, but never saw it with my own eyes."

"Come here!" Kawai stood up suddenly, "I'll take you to see it!"

They walked across the atrium and stopped in front of a door.Kawai turned his head and said embarrassedly: "I forgot the key, please wait for me a little longer."

Ruan Youqing was speechless, holding back her smile forcibly, watching her hastily turned back and walked away, and reappeared after a while, with a bunch of beautiful key chains in her hand.

"Sorry for the long wait." She opened the wooden door, pushed Ruan Youqing into the windowless room and closed the door.The sunlight disappeared along with the crack of the door, and he was left alone in the invisible room, defenseless.

"Teacher Kawai?" There was a slight echo in the room, and he was a little flustered. People with poor hearing are always used to relying on vision.

"The light switch is on the wall behind you." Kawai's voice came through the crack of the door.

Ruan Youqing turned around hastily, and reached out to grope on the flat wall.

"Have you found it?" Kawai asked, "It's near there."

Ruan Youqing searched all over the area but couldn't find any protrusions, but Chuan Jing's voice reminded him.He groped towards a lower place, and sure enough, the switch was set shorter than he was used to, probably to take care of Kawai Miu's height.He pressed hard, and there was a crisp sound, the wall in front of him was illuminated by a faint light, the plain and unusual cement-colored walls and ground.

He turned around slowly. This is an exhibition hall of works, about [-] square meters in size, with light sources hidden around each work.

The glass made by Miwa Kawai is like a living organism, presenting a mysterious and complex beauty.You can't tell what they are, like cells or microorganisms.

In the middle of the exhibition hall is an abandoned metal frame, belonging to the 40s.The car paint is mottled, the front hood is open, and inside are clumps of mycelium-like glass that are entangled together, emitting a faint white light.This light is not static, careful observation reveals that the light is flickering at a very weak frequency, and the imperceptible alternation of light and dark is very similar to the quiet breathing of these cells.

Ruan Youqing couldn't help walking lightly, passing by each work, carefully observing their transparent and ostentatious postures.Cooperating with the deliberately lowered temperature and excess humidity in the exhibition hall, this place is like a secret place sunk in the bottom of the deep sea, which is both exciting and scary.He looked up at the dark ceiling unconsciously, always feeling that something would suddenly appear and swallow him.

He sat on the ground, took off his hearing aids, faced the cells with roots, and immersed himself in the abandoned world created by glass.

After an unknown amount of time, he faintly heard human voices.Turning his head, he found that Kawaii was already standing not far away.He hurriedly brought back the hearing aid and stood up: "Teacher."

"How is it?" Kawaii asked.

Ruan Youqing pointed to her arm, which was covered with obvious goosebumps.

"Is it too cold?" She didn't have the airs of a master or a senior.

"It's not cold. It's so beautiful." Ruan Youqing admired, "Looking at it this way, it's amazing."

"Glass is such a thing, isn't it?" Kawai Miwa said, "It can make you not feel its existence, and it can also make you remember it inadvertently."

Back in the office area, they chatted for a long time. Kawai said that the reason why he wanted to set up a studio and recruit assistants was that his physical strength had declined significantly after the age of 40. In addition, he was born with a petite figure, and it became more difficult to complete many steps.On the other hand, she also wants to promote the beautiful medium of glass, which has the same plasticity as any material. She will not begrudge what she has learned, and hopes that more and more people will appreciate the charm of glass.

She stretched out her right hand to Ruan Youqing: "Please take care of me in the future, Mr. Ruan Youqing. But your surname is a bit of a mouthful for the Japanese. Can I call you Youqing in the future?" I wonder if someone has studied in the United States for many years From experience, Miu Kawai did not have the traditional humility of Yamato Nadeko, which relieved Ruan Youqing and shook her hand with peace of mind: "Of course."

"This is Minato Watanabe, I guess he's your senior." Kawai introduced another assistant in the studio to him.

"Hello. Please take care of me when we meet for the first time." The man in front of him nodded slightly. He looked older than him, with artistic and sexy sideburns. His gaze, the last moment he stayed on the hearing aid, was a little arrogant.

"Please take care of me." Ruan Youqing ignored the subtle offense, and turned to look at the flyer in the opponent's hand.The title is the XXth Tokyo Glass Exhibition.

Kawai seemed to have noticed it, and asked casually, "Watanabe, do you have any clues about the works you exhibited?"

"Well, I want to make a few sets of glass wine vessels... If it's a theme..." Watanabe Minato talked eloquently, speaking very fast.Ruan Youqing couldn't keep up with their speed, so Zhiqu stepped aside.Fortunately, I didn't wait too long, and Kawai told Watanabe: "In the future, you will work with Youqing and take care of him more. Maybe he is not familiar with the style and special techniques at the beginning, so please guide him a bit more."

Ruan Youqing felt that Minato Watanabe didn't want to work with him.But in front of Kawai, the assistant looked very generous and smiled at him in a friendly manner.

Kawai Miu seemed to be relatively slow in this regard, she happily patted the shoulders of the two to say goodbye: "I'll go first, you talk slowly." After speaking, she took her assistant and left, leaving the two embarrassed alone.Sure enough, as soon as the teacher's back disappeared, Minato Watanabe returned to his computer indifferently, completely ignoring his work partner who had just arrived.

"What time is it appropriate to come here tomorrow?" Ruan Youqing had no choice but to ask.

"The studio starts at 09:30 in the morning and is closed on weekends." Minato Watanabe threw him a pair of keys and said to himself, "We mainly complete Mr. Kawai's design drawings."

Ruan Youqing has always been reluctant to put a hot face on a cold butt, since the other party doesn't want to communicate with him very much, he is also happy to be alone.He came to the workshop on the side of the atrium alone, and his eyes lit up.This place is not the same as Lu Zhen's dilapidated factory building, and the environment is excellent.White walls, concrete floors, the space is bright and spacious.There is a row of equipment against the wall, which is a clean silver electric furnace, Xu cold furnace, tool table and so on.Thinking that he could try everything in the next few days, he couldn't help but feel happy.

But things didn't go as smoothly as expected.

He couldn't quite understand Miu Kawai's design drawings, but Minato Watanabe obviously didn't want to take the initiative to explain.He had no choice but to stand beside this not-so-friendly senior and silently watch him do it step by step. Ruan Youqing silently wrote down the meaning of each symbol and label in his heart.

Miu Kawai is very busy, with lectures, entertainment, many solo exhibitions and joint exhibitions, and she often runs here and there.Ruan Youqing might not be able to see her once a week, and only chatted with her in a hurry.She said that after becoming famous, she didn't seem to have much time to devote herself to creation, which was very contradictory.

It was rare for her to stay in the studio this day, and she showed the design drawings to Ruan Youqing and Watanabe: "Let's get this done this month."

On the paper is a design draft of a large glass sculpture, which is a huge microbial community with a width of more than 3 meters. Hundreds of cells of various shapes are combined together to create a liquid-flowing texture.

"The new public library in Sapporo will open next month, and this one will be placed at the entrance of the hall." Kawai put on a leather apron and walked to the electric kiln with them: "Let me give you an overview first."

Miu Kawai signaled them to fight together, but Ruan Youqing failed two or three times in a row.Kawai asked Minato Watanabe in surprise: "Didn't you teach him the basic techniques?"

"I thought he could understand. I'm sorry." Minato Watanabe frowned and explained, "I don't quite understand his level. It's my fault."

Ruan Youqing was taken aback, he had never done similar exercises at all, and Watanabe Minato had never shown similar techniques in front of him, which was clearly lying.But it's meaningless to say these things now, and everyone will continue to get along in the future, so he gave up explaining.Fortunately, Mr. Kawai didn't care about these things. He personally started blowing and shaping the main body, and then heated the part connected to the end repeatedly for further shaping and processing to make a texture between solid and liquid.

"Here, you didn't use the right tools just now. Try again." She was very patient.

And Ruan Youqing would not disappoint her good intentions, so she tried again, and this time the finished product was decent.He understands the basics, it's just that everyone's usual handling methods are slightly different, and the results will be different.

"That's right, that's it. I'll show you some more bonding." Kawai Miu was obviously satisfied, and handed him the blowing stick, "Help me hold it."

They kept busy until late at night, and Ruan Youqing got up to speed quickly with half study and half practice.

"You can ask me more questions in the future." Before the end, Watanabe Minato greeted Kawai in front of him, "You can use the bathroom first."

Ruan Youqing had never experienced such a real workplace before, and it was difficult to deal with it for a while, so she nodded and hummed.He turned around and went to the shower room, and heard Mr. Kawai's appreciation for Watanabe: "It's a senior! Come on!"

Ruan Youqing lowered the water temperature, stood under the shower and sighed repeatedly.Getting along with someone like Watanabe Minato was more tiring than he imagined, which caught him by surprise.

However, this is just the beginning.For the next half a month, Minato Watanabe took his time and seemed not to care much about the progress of the project.Seeing that the end of the month was approaching, Ruan Youqing had no choice but to rush to work with him.No matter how skilled glassblowing is, the yield rate may not be [-]%. Occasionally, there will be times when you miss a job and have to do it all over again.

"Youqing?" Kojima Sora pushed him awake: "Why are you sleeping here? Didn't you go back?"

Ruan Youqing looked up and found that it was already dawn.He touched his phone and checked the time. At 09:30, he just slept on the table for four hours.

"Thank you, I bought breakfast, let's have it together if you don't mind." Kojima Sora turned and walked to her own desk, Ruan Youqing couldn't hear her voice.

He stretched his stiff neck, touched the desktop to the right of the mouse, but failed to touch the hearing aid box placed there as he wished.When he lowered his head, he froze, empty.Even the earphones and box are gone.

I put it here before going to bed...

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Ah, being bullied.

(Miwa Kawai’s exhibit design refers to the works of glass artist Mika Aoki. You can search for it, it’s very beautiful.)