Empowering Creativity: How Small Businesses in Vertical Markets Support Artists and Strengthen Communities Authentic artistry risks being overshadowed by large-scale corporations and unseen online, dwarfed by the Amazons, the Googles and visibility certain only by the dollars spent. And online stores such as Temu aggressively use the terms “Murano Glass” with impunity, even going so…
He was unbendable, determined, hard-headed and above all a family man. His love of glass was only surpassed by his love for Valeria, his wife. We met in San Francisco in the 90s through the Italian Trade Commission which sponsored a group of 20 or so furnaces from Murano who came to a small trade…
We just wrote an article for Italy Magazine, the online magazine is a great source of news for Italy and what is going on. You can read the entire story here: https://www.italymagazine.com/featured-story/brief-history-murano-glass-told-expert It is an online magazine that you can subscribe to for free and enjoy stories of all the regions of Italy, places to…
Making Glass Blowing Look Simple Watching these guys makes it look like play. Watch as they make authentic mouthblown Murano Glasses. Glass blowing is teamwork, the Maestro (the one who sits at the bench) and his servente, basically anyone not sitting at the bench. In more complicated pieces there may be 4 or 5 who…
When we were working with our bead maker, we made this short video. It gives you some idea of the steps involved in making a complicated bead like this. But even before she sits down to turn on the “canello” the torch used in Murano, she has already assembled the fragments of mosaic canes, color…
The latest crisis facing Murano furnaces is the exorbitant increase in Methane prices. Methane is the gas used to melt the sand into glass in most of the furnaces in Murano. It is piped under the lagoon directly to Murano. The latest is a double whammy occurring on the tails of the shut-down for COVID.…
Venice Glass Week of 2021 was exciting but exhausting. There were so many exhibits, workshops that it would take a month to enjoy them all. There were exhibits not only in Venice, Murano and Giudecca but also in Mestre, the town before the bridge. In all, between open studios, gallery exhibits and events there were…
Many people think traditional mouth blowing glass is synonymous with glassblowing but that’s only a type of it. A more precise method to create glass apparatuses known as lathe blown glass has also gained the attention of many bead enthusiasts. And this is why here’s a complete guide by us on mouth-blown and lathe blown glass and…
What can people do with glass? We use it to make windows, mirrors, bottles, jars, tableware, tables, covers for watch faces, and more — including, of course, beads. Two distinct items can even be referred to as “glasses” — namely, the vision aid and any cup made from the material. Glass is practical for all…
