CHIHULY Niijima Floats at Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park

I have been writing about Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park which is a place where there are so many beautiful and amazing things to see all year long, but this is even more true now through November 1st as the Dale Chihuly exhibit is able to be enjoyed throughout the Sculpture Park on the edge of Grand Rapids, Michigan. I thought it would be interesting to share with you some information I found online about the beautiful sculptures you are able to see throughout the park and a bit of background on each piece - today I'm happy to give you a closer look at CHIHULY Niijima Floats at Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park . . .

Dale Chihuly’s Niijima Floats are massive, multi-hued hand-blown glass spheres inspired by Japanese fishing net floats and named after the Japanese island of Niijima. Introduced in 1991, they rank among the largest hand-blown glass objects ever made. 

Origins and Inspiration

Childhood Memories: Chihuly found small green and blue glass Japanese fishing floats on the shores of Puget Sound as a boy.
Niijima Visit: A 1989 trip to Niijima, Japan, inspired him to scale up the simple sphere shape into a monumental art form.
Production Scale: Crafted by large teams of glassblowers, some of these giant spheres measure up to 40 inches (and sometimes larger) in diameter and weigh between 60 and 100 pounds. 

Artistic Characteristics

Pure Form: The sphere represents the most natural form created on a blowpipe, making it a direct expression of core glassblowing techniques.
Surfaces and Details: Their complex surfaces feature rich layers of color, mottled hues, and additions of gold or silver leaf and foil. 
Exhibition Style: They are frequently used in outdoor garden exhibitions, placed in groupings floating directly on water ponds or nestled within Mille Fiori installations.

The CHIHULY Niijima Floats are some of my favorite parts of the Chihuly exhibit at Meijer Gardens and are in the Japanese Garden. I love all the colors and I know I am absolutely going to miss seeing them in the Japanese pond next year for sure.

If you live near Frederik Meijer Gardens, or are able to visit before November 1, 2026, be sure to check out the Chihuly exhibit - the CHIHULY Niijima Floats absolutely will give you another reason you will be so glad you do!