Thanks for yr attention, Paola from Italy.
Very nice but who is willing to pay 780.23 US $ for this :
http://www.muranonet.com/articolo.asp?ID=360 ?
Saar
Regards,
G^2
I just think everyone's free to have his own taste.
Isn't it? :-)
Our articles are of different styles, so that
anyone can enjoy the catalogue and have fun.
Let me suggest the special selection of wedding boxes
of sweets: your comments are welcome!
http://www.muranonet.com/boxsweets.asp?groups=001
Best,
Paola
Let me ask what is exactly "Murano glass" ?
If I remember correctly there is a village near Venice that is
the origin of this name .
Please educate me if I am wrong .
TIA,Ola
You're right!
Murano is a small group of islands lying in the lagoon of Venice,
north of the larger group of islands forming the city of Venice
itself.
The history of Murano and Venice as a center of glassmaking is a
particularly rich one!
Below there's a brief summary about Murano's history and its typical
hand-blown glass.
If you want more information about the history and the peculiar
technique of hand-blowing in Murano, here are some links to Murano
and Venice resources:
http://www.boglewood.com/murano/
(Murano Magic: information about Murano,
but also Venetian art and history)
http://www.studiosoft.it/MuranoTechnology.htm
(about Murano glassmaking)
http://www.muranonet.it/magazine.asp?Page=1
(MuranoNet: Murano history, glass-masters biographies
and glossary)
Thanks for the interest you showed regarding Murano town and
..... OLA!!
Paola
***************************************
Glassmaking existed in the lagoon of Venice from as early as the 8th
century.
The technique used was that of blowing into glass using the
instruments passed down by the late Roman glass blowing activities.
The technique was later refined in Venice more than anywhere else in
Europe, because of the trading contacts that the Venice Republic had
with the Orient and above all with the countries that already had an
ancient tradition in glass blowing (such as the Fenici, the Syrians
and the Egyptians).
Therefore the artisans of Venice began to accumulate some singular
skills in glass production. Recipe books, banded down and added to
from generation to generation, illustrate this constant process of
experimentation, leading to gradual improvements, the rediscovery
of lost techniques and the development of many new techniques.
Since the 13th century Venetian glass has been known in Europe and
in the Near East for its special qualities of transparency and its
elegant shapes. The glass used, known by the Venetians as "cristallo",
had the quality of being extremely ductile when hot, but cooled very
quickly while being worked: this enabled the glassblowers to create
thinly-blown complicated shapes at the furnace, reheating the glass
as many times as necessary during the process.
Murano glass has known moments of glory over the centuries as well
as moments of decline. However it has always been characterized by
an obsessive search for quality.
The hollow blown glass of Murano has forged it's own path, it's
strength being in its variation of type and class: enameling and
gilding, "calcedonio" and "filigrana", millefiori and a perfectly
clear crystal were all used to create glass of great visual variety.
A glass museum was established in 1861 affiliated with a school of
design, where glassmakers could study old specimens of Venetian glass.
In the latest 150 years, the glass designs of the new and revitalized
glass firms relied heavily upon their traditional Murano skills at
creating intricate fantasies, though influenced by the art nouveau
movement near the end of the XIX century. Designs were usually the
invention of the glassblowers themselves.
Finally, in the most recent years a particular attention was paid to
modern design and today there are modern glass designers, with their
glass sculptures dedicated to modern art and also to pop art.
Specialist chemists employed by the major glasshouses dramatically
extended the range of colors available for glass. Nowadays glass
masters show love for color combinations and are skilled in using the
juxtaposition of different techniques in creating glass shapes, but
they always rely on the rich knowledge of an ancient tradition.
***************************************