"When you buy a piece of Murano glass, you’re buying the best quality glass available in the world. A piece that is unique just as an artwork and encompassing hundreds of years of history in Italian design and craftsmanship."
“At the tender age of 18 I was lucky enough to travel around Europe with my aunt and this included a visit to the furnaces of Murano, Italy. It was this trip that became a life long love affair of Murano glass.
Murano is a seven part island positioned in the Venice lagoon off the coast of Italy and has quite a history dating back to the sixth century with manufacturing moving from Venice to Murano in the 1291 for fear of a fire in Venice. Today Murano is world famous for the quality and uniqueness of its glass.
What impresses me most are the techniques and exquisite range of colours invented in Murano that are unsurpassed for their quality and design. These include sommerso (layering colours), bullicante (suspending bubbles), calcedonian (blended colours using silver oxide), millefiore (multicoloured) and adventurine glass ( sparkling threads of gold and silver).
Then we can turn to the designers and glass maestros of Murano, those that have worked a lifetime in various furnaces since their early teenage years to create unique designs and colours in art glass. These include Venini, Archimede Seguso, Lino Taglapietra, Luigi Onesto, Alfredo Barbini, Licio Zanetti, Dino Martens, Alessandro Mandruzzato, Cenedese, Barovier, Walter Furlan just to name a few. Often these are generational businesses with the secrets and skills being handed down through the family.
When you buy a piece of Murano glass, you’re buying the best quality glass available in the world. A piece that is unique just as an artwork and encompassing hundreds of years of history in Italian design and craftsmanship. It’s important that you hold the glass and look at it through the light. You’ll know straight away by the polished finish, the weight and the technique used. Look for a signature (generally on the base) and/or a label which identifies the furnace or manufacturer/designer. You are going to be paying more for Murano glass, but know that you’ll be buying a family heirloom. A valuable piece of history.”
