In 1971, I began collecting beads by taking apart Japanese glass necklaces from the 1950's.

"Japan" was embossed into the brass clasps. They were single, double or triple strands, about fifteen inches long. Usually there were three or five fancy beads serving as focal points. And these were the ones I set aside for designers. And this is how I developed an intuition for identification of post-WWII Japanese glass beads.

In 1971, I thought fifty cents was "a chunk of change" to pay for a single bead such as these. I asked the woman who bought them from me: "Why?" She said she redesigned an entire necklace around them for resale. I asked her to work for me. She worked and traveled with me for many years. We even traveled to London, staying at the Grosvenor House, to exhibit Ojime at a Netsuke Convention.

I have always been especially fond of Japanese beads of all sorts.