Recent collaborations with the most interesting artists of the international design scenario, have lead to the creation of new products which confirm VENINI’s leadership in the glass universe, fully complying to the sensibility of the present and to the constant research in the glass art, typical aspects of the company founded by Paolo Venini and Giacomo Cappellin in 1921 in Venice. The combination of contemporary planning with works of the most important Glass Masters of the 20th Century, from Carlo Scarpa to Napoleone Martinuzzi, indicate the efficient equilibrium of one of the leading brands in the history of design.
For ARTLIGHT, the collection dedicated to light, Doriana and Massimiliano Fuksas imagined the colourful geometric shapes in opal glass of Zoe, a lantern seen as a shelter of one’s desires, memory of Venice once suspended between East and West, gateway of knowledge and oblivion which the creative couple - inspired by the magic of the lagoon and by a material which is able to reflect, enclose and reveal, only but partially - have reinterpreted in a modern key. These pieces converse with the innovative and delicate transparencies of Alberto Biagetti’s work which, in this occasion, reinvents the light bulb: Edi – Edi Glass – Edi Model 1 is a series of table, floor, suspension and wall lamps which clearly refers to the light devised by Edison and which enabled us to spring out of the darkness. With this tribute to the grand inventor, Biagetti thinks about the silhouette of the traditional light bulb acting directly on the original light source (a metallic filament), now transformed into glass thanks to the fusion of polychrome sticks which produce soft light hues.
The Balloton Lamp projects and the updates of the Esprit, Scarlatti projects developed by the creative team within the company are also part of the 2014 collection. The charm of the Balloton lies in its production: the Glass Master works by applying pressure to the molten glass not yet shaped within a particular metal mould, which creates a graphic rhomboid on the outer surface. The group consists of a table version, with or without lampshade, a suspension lamp and a wall lamp. Esprit is characterized by large luminous boules embellished with glass flowers and stars applied to the central element which is the typical object of the house collection, offered in a wide colour range.
Doge and Decò by Napoleone Martinuzzi, one of the leading innovators in the glassmaking art of Murano (and Artistic Director at Venini from 1925 to 1931), summarize the many possibilities that this art reserves: the Doge collection, retrieved from the company’s archives uses the “rigadin” technique which allows to obtain numerous parallel lines thanks to the imprint left by the mould.
Formosa is the suspension lamp designed by Ettore Sottsass in 1989, shaped by wavy stems with a fringe effect attached to the top metal plate and enriched with soft decorations in the lower part. The light source is enclosed in the slightly pink glass central sphere.
The Master Carlo Scarpa’s Soffiati 1935, is a collection of chandeliers and wall lamps coming from the VENINI archives in which the artist has expressed his mastery craftsmanship in forging the material. The size and the rounded shape of the handmade long and light arms, enhance the attention given to the combination of glass and metal.