VENINI GLASS

Founded in 1921 by the Milanese lawyer Paolo Venini and the Venetian antiques dealer Giacomo Cappellin, Venini S.p.A., then Cappellin, Venini & C., is destined to become a reference name in the world of artistic glass, laying the foundations for that identity style that still distinguishes it today.

Over time, Venini established significant collaborations with artists such as Napoleone Martinuzzi, Carlo Scarpa, Vittorio Zecchin and, after the war, with Gio Ponti, Fulvio Bianconi, Tapio Wirkkala and Mimmo Rotella, up to the contributions of contemporary designers and architects of the caliber of Peter Marino, Ron Arad, Tadao Ando, Gae Aulenti, Doriana and Massimiliano Fuksas, Ettore Sottsass, Alessandro Mendini, Gaetano Pesce, Emmanuel Babled, Francesco Lucchese, Monica Guggisberg and Philip Baldwin, Michela Cattai, Hani Rashid and Lise Anne Couture, Benjamin Moore, Dan Dailey , Giorgio Vigna and many others. Thus the original artistic production is renewed in forms and language.

Between iconic projects and new creations, the glassworks presents its works in two collections: Art Glass collects extraordinary sculptural vases and objects for decoration; Art Light presents chandeliers and important light installations intended for large public or private spaces.

Venini boasts an unrivaled color palette which, together with the glass working techniques, is part of a cultural heritage handed down from generation to generation. Venini’s furnace is in fact the only one capable of creating 125 glass colours, the result of a long and passionate formulation in search of new combinations. The structure is organized to work with 14 ovens active at the same time, providing artists and glass masters with a color palette that has no equal.

Venini’s creations have become part of the permanent collections of museums such as the Metropolitan Museum and the MOMA in New York, the Cartier Foundation in Paris, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the Gallerie dell’Accademia in Venice. The Venini museum, collecting 45,000 drawings, 10,000 period photos and 4,000 works of art, represents the most precious historical archive of modern and contemporary artistic glassmaking.

The company is controlled by the Damiani family, already at the head of the homonymous international high jewelery brand, with the aim of giving greater impetus to one of the most authentic excellences of Made in Italy.

Starting from 2023 Marco Piva assumes the position of Artistic Director of Venini, with the aim of redefining the creative path of the product starting from the analysis of the historical-cultural heritage contained in the archive of the famous brand.

History

The history of the company began in 1921, when the Milanese lawyer Paolo Venini together with the Venetian antiques dealer Giacomo Cappellin founded Vetri Soffiati Muranesi Cappellin Venini & C.  The artistic direction was entrusted to Vittorio Zecchin.

Following the definitive split with Giacomo Cappellin, which took place in 1925, Paolo Venini founded the Vetri Soffiati Muranesi Venini & C.  with the entrepreneur-artist Napoleone Martinuzzi, a well-known personality in cultural circles, also loved by Gabriele D’Annunzio.

During his years of activity at VENINI, Napoleone Martinuzzi decided to devote himself entirely to sculpture and in 1932 the artistic direction of the Murano furnace was assigned to the architects Tomaso Buzzi and Carlo Alberto Scarpa.

In 1959, with the death of Paolo Venini, the management of the company passed to his son-in-law, the architect Ludovico Diaz de Santillana and his daughter Laura. Laura de Santillana will remain active within the glassworks until 1985.

VENINI was officially taken over in 1986 by the Gardini and Ferruzzi families, but the values of the founding father Paolo Venini remain intact.

After the tragic death of Raul Gardini, which took place in 1993, the Murano furnace was bought by Italian Luxury Industries but only in the second decade of the 2000s did it become a holding company and became part of the Damiani Group, where Silvia Damiani is President of VENINI S.p.A.