Italian Art Glass
You’ve probably seen that movie Sweet Home Alabama, so you probably already know that when lightening strikes sand it makes crude glass. Well nature has been producing that miracle long before Hollywood began producing bad films.
Glass was one of man’s earliest discoveries and once we figured out how to copy Mother Nature we discovered a new obsession. Venice in the 13th Century is where things really got interesting, in true Italian style with plenty of drama. Having done deals with the Islamic and North Africans the Venetians refined the recipe for glass making with brilliant results. To protect their secret recipes and techniques the artisans were held captive on the Murano islands in the Adriatic Sea. The Venetian government made them filthy rich, but their elevated social status and luxurious lifestyle weren’t enough to keep them. The glass trade monopoly Venice held for almost a century was finally shattered as escapees took their trade beyond the border. By the 1600′s Venetian glass secrets had been spread around the world and all was made transparent.
But the power play shifted and soon Venice got a taste of its own medicine, being held under the rule of Austria who favoured Bohemian glass. The Austrian government put restrictions on the import of raw materials to the islands and without the essenitial ingredients the production of the famous Murano glass could not go on…
Yet all was not lost! 200 years later, in the mid 1800′s Murano had found its saviours – Antonia Salviati and the Fratelli Toso family. Their companies sought to bring back the glory days of glass by once again employing the skills and inventions that began it and combining them with ancient methods practiced by the Phoenician Romans.
Venice simultaneously freed itself from Austria, becoming a part of the Kingdom of Italy and re-egnited their kilns and passion for beautiful glass. The long lost treasure was reclaimed and shared with the world. It became particularly popular with the wealthy Americans who routinely holidayed in Europe and returned home with the prized glass as souvenirs.
Things went to whole new level in the 50′s with an erruption of creativity causing another world-wide craze for Italian glass. Now producing along-side Toso and Salviati were Vistosi, Venini , Barbini, and Seguso who joined forces and set the Italian glass industry in stone. Soon no modern-day home was complete without a generous splash of light reflecting colour.
Like any good treasure, art glass is worth a few pretty pennies and there are plenty of determined hunters out there. Get amongst it, we’ve got some great must haves here in the Indigo ocean!
