Sommerso, which in Italian literally means “submerged” glass was developed in Murano, Italy in the 1930’s by Antonio Da Ross. It was made popular later by Flavio Poli who was the artistic director for Seguso Vetri d'Arte and also by the Mandruzzato family and Paolo Venini in the 1950s.
The technique is used to create several layers of glass, usually with different contrasting sunken colors inside a single object. This gives the illusion of “immersed” colors that lay on top of each other without mixing. Clear glass is repeatedly immersed in pots of molten glass to form an object. Sommerso can also involve the inclusion of gold leaf and controlled bubbles to create the illusion of depth and intensity. Now multi-colored glass rods are also used for an outer layer which gives the object an exquisitely striped look.
Sommerso continued to grow in popularity as Da Ros moved to Ars Cenedese and later won exhibition prizes for his submerged techniques along with designer Fulvio Bianconi and Luigi Scarpa Croce who found new ways to make glass even more fascinating.
Today, this technique is continued through the never-ending research and work of expert glass masters such as Oball and Oggetti, the Onesto family, Cenedese, Venini and Barovier and Toso.
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