The Japanese designer and artist Tokujin Yoshioka utilizes transparency in poetic ways by transforming clear materials into artwork, furniture, and even life-size ceremonial teahouses. As part of his ongoing 20-year collaborative relationship with designer Issey Miyake, Yoshioka has created a new glass timepiece that captures reflected light by magically making time appear to bend. The 39 mm stainless steel case sits below an oversize glass crystal, which exaggerates this essential feature of the watch to become the primary sculptural focus. All indices get eliminated. Wearers can choose either a silver or black dial which, in keeping with the minimalist approach, can be paired with a simple either black or brown strap.
The Glass Watch is the 16th edition of the Issey Miyake Watch Project, in which leading guest architects, industrial and interior designers, and contemporary artists reinterpret time by applying the state-of-the-art design codes to timepieces. “I try to design time, space, and light,” Yoshioka wrote in his 2010 self-titled book from Rizzoli. “Maybe I just want to create mysterious auras that change the qualities of their surroundings merely by their presence.” With this new watch, Yoshioka does just that.
Issey Miyake Watch Project: Glass Watch, $450; isseymiyake-watch.com