Master Akira Hara, Fornace Pagnin
His story is as fascinating as it is unusual, and his passion for Murano glass working led him to leave his family and country of origin to move to Italy. Akira’s love of glass originated years ago, when he saw Murano glass creations on show in a Japanese museum. There was no way of holding him back, even the attempts of his father, a doctor, to make persuade him to follow in his footsteps after school and study medicine.
Before moving to Italy, in Japan Akira created works in clay, iron and wood, demonstrating his inborn dexterity and artistic talent, which are now fully expressed in his marvellous Murano glass creations. Akira came to Murano ten years ago and here he met (precisely the day after arriving) Massimiliano Pagnin who, astounded by such a passion for glass and the desire to learn how to work it, took him into to his glassworks, to start teaching him the art of Murano glass blowing.
Over the years working in the factory, Akira has learned the techniques and refined his talent by applying himself with constancy and dedication to become one of Murano’s youngest and most talented master glassblowers.
Akira studied alongside great designers and masters such as Ulderico Rossetto, Elio Raffaelli, Livio Serena, Vittorio Ferro, Paolo Pinzan, Massimo Nordio, Toni Zuccari and Angelo Zennaro.
With his solitary and meditative air, in just a short time, Akira has succeeded in achieving significant results thanks, in addition to his passion, to his strong sense of responsibility, humbleness and will. Akira is a true perfectionist in his work (a typically Japanese characteristic) and is always on the look out for new shapes and technical innovation. Akira prefers to create products for everyday use, where the elegance of the work takes on basic, simple forms.
