CELEBRATED glassmaker Clare Henshaw has been awarded a place on the UK Crafts mission to Japan in March.

The 10-day visit will include an exhibition of her work at the Ozone Design Center in Tokyo, taking her work to exciting new territories.

Clare has had a remarkable response to her work in the UK since returning from the north of Sweden where she lived for nine years and has won several prestigious awards, including the Adrian Sassoon award for the Arts of the Kiln. In 2006 she became a Fellow of the Wingate Foundation, which offered her some funding.

Her work is represented in seven museums and public collections, including the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cam-bridge.

She works from a studio near Hay-on-Wye and in addition to winning the new exhibitor award at last year's Contemporary Craft Fair in Hereford, Clare has received support from the Elmley Foundation, Hereford and Worcester Chamber of Commerce and West Midlands Arts.

Her free blown vessels utilise Graal technique - cutting through layers of colour to reveal the inside colour, the blown vessels achieve a depth of luminosity which draws in the eye. They are quiet and ethereal and demonstrate an unusual sense of colour and form, reflecting the dramatic light phenomenon of the north.

"It will be interesting to see how the work is appreciated in Japan," Clare said. "Glass is a relatively new material in Japan where ceramics and textiles are much more understood - really a part of the culture. I'm very excited about this trip as I've always wanted to go to Japan."

The visit will include opportunities for the 18 delegates to study at museums, go to galleries and visit Kyoto. Clare is the only glassmaking delegate, and the only one from this area.

"I really hope this trip will result in future exhibition opportunities and I'm sure the chance to absorb their wonderful heritage of textiles and ceramics will be an inspiration for my developing work," she said.

Clare will be exhibiting her glass with Dan Klein at Adrian Sassoon at Collect from February 8 to 12 at the Victoria and Albert Museum, in London, celebrating 40 years of glass graduates from the Royal College of Art.