Dressed in a neat black skirt, white blouse and wraparound apron, Joy Suzuki offers a bow of welcome from her kitchen, where she is preparing lunch with raw materials from her wild garden near Kamakura-gu Shrine.
"It's true," she laughs at my surprise. "I'm not the apron type, it's just that I'm such a slob."
Nothing could be further from the truth. For in her work -- blowing and sandblasting glass for clear, opaque and frosted vases, and other containers for flowers -- Joy is the ultimate perfectionist.