Toyo Japan glass tumblers

These Toyo tumblers date to the 1960s and I find them such a great piece of design.

Made from a great smoky grey glass they are totally smooth externally but are ribbed internally. The ribs make a simple shape optically interesting.
The mould making for these tumblers would have been quite technical I think.

Toyo are best known for their housewares and made well designed and executed glass. They did make some more arty mouth blown glass but it was for a limited period around the 1970s.
In 2002 Toyo joined with Sasaki to make the huge glass conglomerate TSG, Toyo Sasaki Glass, and it remains Japan's biggest producer of household glass.

History of Toyo (edited from TSG's website):

In 1878 Toyo's founder Magoichi Shimada joined Shinagawa Glassworks, established by the new Meiji government as an effort to pioneer Japan's domestic glassware industry. Shimada studied under British craftsman James Speed to learn the latest European mixing and production techniques.

Shimada Glass was founded in the village of Kawasaki, Osaka in 1888, and by 1902 had moved to larger premises at Ebie, Osaka with a new furnace and more modern technology.
From the start of World War II Toyo's glass container business increased due to the shortage of metal available for tin cans and in 1953 the company became a member of Toyo Seikan Kaisha ("Oriental Can Manufacturing Company") group.
In 1957 the company renamed itself as Shin Toyo Glass ("New Oriental Glass") and then to Toyo Glass in 1967.

Like Sasaki, Toyo developed fast and efficient means of pressing high quality glass and crystal. They remained at their Ebie premises until 2002 when a new factory was established by TSG at Yachiyo near Tokyo.