L’Arte del Vetro Grezzo
09–17.09.2023

On the occasion of The Venice Glass Week 2023, and as an initiative of the Fondation Etrillard (Geneva), the Fondazione dell’Albero d’Oro (Venice) and the Swiss manufacturer ALCO, this project aims to combine knowhow and creativity. Thanks to this support, eighteen students from the Master in Design for Luxury & Craftsmanship from the ECAL/University of Art and Design Lausanne have had the unique opportunity to meet and work with Murano-based Master glassmakers.

This research project began with a visit of manufactures on the Venetian island, internationally renowned for its glassmaking history. During one week the students have had the chance to meet a number of artisans and discover with them ancient production techniques. At the heart of these prestigious factories, every detail is potentially transformed into a source of inspiration: a tool, raw blocks of glass, scraps accumulated in containers or blown glass pieces stacked for decades on wooden shelves. As well as the techniques and creative worlds that emerged from these workshops, the inspiration also came from life in Venice, which many of the students (from ten different nationalities) were discovering for the first time: the omnipresence of water, the colours and reflections, the erosion of materials and the contrast between the different elements.

The work of the students, under the guidance of designer Ini Archibong, led to the selection of five concepts, grouped together in works made from raw materials. In the form of ‘ready-mades’, the aim of this exhibition is to capture the history and skills of the Master glassmakers through creative compositions featuring simple rods, plates or blocks of glass, produced in Murano using specific processes handed down from generation to generation.

Murono Master glassmakers:
Simone Cenedese
Effetre
Fornace Nicola Moretti
Fornace Simone Mian
Renata Ferrari