Venini

That same year, in 1925, Martinuzzi innovated the pulegoso glass, characterized by air bubbles, which create an opaque look in the glass. He would also contribute hued art glass and contemporary glass lighting before leaving the firm. From 1932 until 1934 the architect and designer Tomaso Buzzi served as artistic director at Venini & C. While Buzzi designed works with classical shapes, he also brought with him a new era of experimentation and created pasta vitrea (opaque glass) and vetro incamiciato (layered glass). As Venini & C.’s reputation grew, Paolo Venini sought the collaboration of important designers and architects such as Gio Ponti and Carlo Scarpa.

In the 1930s, Venini & C. crafted the “Diamante” glasses and “murrine romane”. This earmarked a revival of glass manufacturing through the 1930s and 40s. Following World War II, as Paolo Venini had become an experienced glassmaker, he contributed more of his own artistic vision, producing some important designs himself such as the Fazzoletto (handkerchief) series, and devoted more time to the management of the company.

In the 1940s, Carlo Scarpa became Cenini & C. artistic director, and brought with him a more focused modernist vision to the company and its designs. In particular, Scarpa developed new techniques, such as battuto (beaten glass), tessuto (glass with lines), granulare (glass with small globules), and murina (patterned glass made from rods).

After Paolo Venini’s death in 1959, Venini & C. was passed to Venini’s son-in-law, Ludovico Diaz de Santillana, and in the 1976, Ludovico’s daughter, Laura, managed the company and started to work with then-contemporary artists and designers such as Owe Thorssen, Tina Aufiero, and Brigitta Karlsson. In 1985 the company was sold to Gardini and Ferruzzi, and in the years to follow important architects and designers such as Alessandro Mendini, Ettore Sottsass, Gae Aulenti and Mario Bellini designed glasswork with Venini & C.

Venini’s style remains synonymous with traditional technique and modern form. The company was briefly owned (1997–2001) by Royal Scandinavia (owner of Swedish Orefors Kosta Boda, and today the company is owned by the group Italian Luxury Industries. Since the turn of the 21st century, Venini has carried on with its legacy commissioning designs from the likes of Tadao Ando, Atelier Biagetti, and the Campana brothers.

To this date, Venini’s reputation continues to be built on its important designers and artistic directors of its golden years of the 20th century: Napoleone Martinuzzi, Carlo Scarpa, Paolo Venini, Tomaso Buzzi, Fulvio Bianconi, and Ludovico Diaz de Santillana.

The first exhibition, dedicated to Carlo Scarpa, called “Venetian Glass by Carlo Scarpa: The Vnini Company 1932-1947,” took place in 2013 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Bibliography

• Ludovico Diaz de Santillana, Thomas S. Beuchner, Paul N. Perrot. Venini Glass. Smithsonian Institution. Washington D.C., USA (1981)
• Franco Maria Ricci. Venini Murano 1921. FMR. Milan, Italy (1989)
• Franco Deboni. Venini Glass. Umberto Allemandi & C. Turin, Italy (1996)
• Franco Deboni. I Vetri Venini, Umberto Allemandi & C. Turin, Italy (2007)

For additional information on Venini & C., please visit the following:

“Venini Heritage” Venini & C.
“Venini & C.” British Museum
“Paolo Venini” Venini & C.

Last updated: October 29, 2019