Vitrum celebrates Murano: a historical-artistic journey on the excellence of the ancient art of glass from 1200 to today.
Glass has always impressed artists and poets with its peculiar characteristics. Synonymous with purity and fragility, since ancient times it has won a place of honor in the hearts of those who aspire to surround themselves with art and beauty.
Venice, which since its origins has been the nerve center of maritime trade, has been able to invest, with taste and stubborn intuition in this extraordinary element, creating around the end of 1200, a glass processing center of excellence: Murano.
Artists, designers, perlere and impiraresse who drew inspiration from the ancient art of Murano, will present to the world public the evolution and magnificence of this material, one of the most versatile and fascinating that man has discovered and been able to interpret.
The 2019 edition of VITRUM wants to pay homage to the work, creativity and ingenuity of Murano glass masters by recreating a hypothetical “Cabinet de Curiosités” through an exhibition of works that traces its history, from classical production to the current design object. Exploring the 900s and its artefacts, the exhibition itinerary will culminate in the inspiration of contemporary designers, the new "masters" who have been able to make tradition their strong point.
To represent the wisdom of the glass art of the early 900s will be Freak Went the brand of antiques and modern antiques now known all over the world. Founded in 1987 by Maurizio Marzadori, antique dealer and collector, it is today an important point of reference for museums, art galleries, auction houses, artists, directors, set designers, stylists and photographers.
Chronologically advancing in time, the creations of The Glass Cathedral - Santa Chiara of Murano, a magnificent recently restored space with, inside, an active glass furnace.
Rich in history, the former church is one of the oldest structures on the island of Murano whose rooms have hosted, among the various religious settlements, the Franciscan nuns of Santa Chiara from which the church took its name.
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The ideal combination of past and present has been thoroughly studied by the glass designer Silvia Finiels. She was born in Paris, she arrives in Venice in 1987 where she meets the artist Giorgio Mion and thanks to whom she becomes passionate about the collection of ancient Venetian pearls. It was in that period that she collaborated with John Picard and the Moretti brothers for the manufacture of chevrons (rods and rosettes).
In love with Murano glass, in 2007 she opened her atelier / gallery dedicated to pearls and necklaces, in search of collectible glass and the creation of lamps. The latter, which quickly became its flagship, are now born from the selection of ancient elements of the Murano glass masters (1950-1980) which, reused and re-interpreted, make up his precious and exclusive lamp-sculptures.
When art meets design is the artist's leitmotiv Antonia Trevisan. Born in Vicenza, she lives and works between Vicenza and Venice. Since 1970 she has been attending her, at Gigi Lanaro's furniture shop in Vicenza, with the ceramist Pompeo Pianezzola, with the glass sculptor Luciano Vistosi and with the weaver and designer Renata Bonfanti.
In those years he began to design and install his first windows using colored blown glass sheets, assembled with transparent glue and inserted between shatterproof glass panels.
In 1988 he created the brand "Antonia Trevisan ideas color" with which he designs and manufactures prestigious artistic glass windows today distributed in Veneto and Lombardy.
Fulvia Notari lives in the province of Venice, a few steps from the atelier where she makes her Murano glass jewels.
The passion for Design was born on the desks of the Faculty of Architecture in Milan thanks also to the good fortune of studying with great masters of international design, from Achille Castiglioni to Tomaso Maldonado and Arturo Dell'Acqua Bellavitis.
The collaboration with the architect Alessandro Lenarda, who designed glass objects for the home, finally opened the doors of the Murano furnaces to her. The encounter with glass was love at first sight: she begins to study processing techniques, to visit collections and museums, to follow the exhibitions on the art of glass. While in Padua she nourished herself with the stimuli offered by the historic goldsmith school, rich in cosmopolitan influences and a meeting point for artists capable of working with the most diverse materials, in '95 she created the Antares Venezia brand.
Today she creates Murano glass ornaments with a modern and captivating shape, always in love with this extraordinary material that she considers rich in personality and facets, with the desire to help keep alive the ancient art of the island's master blowers. An art increasingly at risk of extinction.
Lucia Santini was born in Murano into a family that has been producing glass for 600 years.
He learned to paint thanks to the teachings of his mother and grandmother, starting his career as a glassmaker in a Murano workshop.
Now he lives in Venice and thanks to his talents he has the good fortune and the pleasure of collaborating with the master Lucio Bubacco and with his brother Emilio Santini.
Lucia Santini's works have been exhibited at the Litvak Gallery in Tel Aviv, at the Habatat Gallery in Florida and at the CFM Gallery in New York.
She says of herself: “Mine is a perennial research project, which fights between technical possibilities for the realization of creative intentions. Looking for new paths, going back, sometimes back, to the ancient, through the colors, transparencies and possibilities that glass as a material can transmit to me. I use the traditional glass painting technique, exploring other opportunities. "
Alessia Escape she is a creator of pearls, actually real works of art in glass, made with the traditional lampwork technique.
He opened his studio in 2007, only one year after his first course in glass working with the lampwork technique, thanks to which he discovered a great passion and an unexpected talent.
Alessia specializes in pearls of the highest quality with an original and captivating design. Thanks to the love and attention to every single detail, her work has a unique style, recognizable and appreciated by pearl collectors and admirers all over the world.
Today, in his studio, he creates his exclusive pearls in limited series and teaches this ancient, precious and wonderful Murano art.
"Impiraressa" o she who inserts glass pearls, a female profession widespread in Venice between the 800th and 900th centuries.
Marisa Convent has recovered this tradition which is based on ancient threading techniques for the artistic creation of decorations and jewels.
His "Venetian Dreams " they are made in honor of women for the love of Venice, the city where Marisa lives, works and dreams.
It is the turn of the “glass silk”, a project conceived by the sisters Giovanna, Carlotta and Orsola Moretti where the passion for glass comes from a family tradition. The activity carried out by Vincenzo Moretti (1835-1901) in the production of Murrino glass inspired the creation of countless works of art now housed in numerous museums around the world and in private collections and fully illustrated in the 102 tiles of his Samples.
It is precisely from this collection, from the single pieces of the Murrini glass sample,
that the idea was born of transporting the colors, transparency and precious imperfections of a ductile, fragile and magical material like glass onto silk, a true inspiration for works of art, lighting products, furniture and 'objects.
The three sisters, animated by the same joy for life that their father passed on to them, have chosen to give a dream to a parent who is still present, in their hearts and in their work.