1. A bolus of glass is taken from the crucible with a metal blowpipe. 2. Scissors and pliers used in the pro- duction of glass. 3. Designs from the historical archive. 4. Astrale Vase. always the same. Attention to health con- 5. From left, Gianluca and Pierpaolo Seguso, PresidentCEO, and Creative cerns has made some disappear. For exam- Director, respectively. ple, selenium and arsenic, which served to 6. Green-yellow corrosive ³corroso² design by Flavio Poli, 1958. make very good reds, yellows and oranges. 7. A moment in the production of gold Today, to get to those results, or at least leaf. 8. Onda Bowl, created through fi ligree. near, we resort to a Chinese substance, fair- 9. Bacan Screen ly unstable. The yellow uranium, however, is no longer made. The great Italian brands - second series /31 was occupied only by fi elds, farmers and noble titles in exchange for ships we had for convents. Thus was born what, in fact, Workshop chic. Now, it should be ad- our businesses. We refused,” says Gianluca can be considered the fi rst industrial ded that Seguso, with its dark places, the Seguso. The subsequent arrival of the Au- district in the world. Perhaps, the fi rst hot ovens and substances still fl uid and iri- strians in and around Venice, after the Tre- Murano. Seguso furnace identifi ed by name was aty of Campoformio, off ers fewer occasions descent taking solid form under the expert in 1600. “Rulli”, the glass discs, also cal- hands of the “glass masters”, the workshop like that. It coincides; in fact, with a general led “patere” that make up the windows is also the most chic of the world, as deco- decline in Murano glassworks (which bene- are made here. And then also the fi rst The maestri who create ration, hanging from the high ceiling, a fi ts the production of Bohemian glass) this decorative items such as cups, glasses dozen chandelier products: fantastic crea- decline lasts until after the mid-nineteenth and vases, beautiful examples of which tions multicolored and multi-formed. But century. can be admired in the gallery arranged maybe it’s time to go back. We are talking To detect signs of revival, we must wait until works of art in a breath today next to the furnace. In various do- 1867, with the creation of C.V.M. (Compa- back to six centuries, because now the Se- cuments of the Venetian Republic, Se- Six centuries of history behind them, fi rst in Venice, then Murano: guso glass family is in the twenty-third ge- gnia Venezia Murano) at the hands Antonio gusos occur as glassmakers before that, neration. The family arrives to these parts Salviati, through which soon is linked An- furnaces from 1700 degrees which produced chandeliers that lit even the salons in 1605, is created the public register probably already with knowledge in the art tonio Seguso (who ten years later will gain of craftsmanship families, the Golden of the Andrea Doria and, today, those of the Four Seasons in Dubai. that will make them famous. The origins, the majority of the company) and Giovanni Book of Murano (the one that, among in fact, go back to Susa and then to Altar, Barovier. other things, grants license to its mem- in Liguria, where there existed a glassma- It is the season which fascinates many An- bers, not part of the aristocracy, to mar- Seguso Vetri d’Arte in Murano, today in the logic within which a factory works The ‘Libro of Partie’, is what you call king tradition that the Benedictine monks glo-Saxon travelers (or residents) whom are ry a noblewoman). And, in 1792, in one Campiello San Maffi o, on the other side change so radically. Because today the the book of color recipes that every had imported from France. In the papers also soon transformed into passionate col- of the last acts of a Venetian Doge, the of the canal there is the ancient church factory is in the adjacent building, yes, it great family of glassmakers keeps as preserved in the archives of what was once lectors of Murano glass, as Isabella Stewart Osella medallion is granted to the Segu- of Santi Maria e Donato, the Cathedral has always been a factory, but a factory a closely guarded secret (for exam- the Serenissima, the fi rst occurrence of a so family, an honor, which is bestowed of the island, an important example where the force of gravity counts for litt- ple, in the case of Seguso, among Seguso dates back to 1397 and covers the every December to a select few of the from the Romanesque lagoon. Next to le, the delicate and marvelous glass now several other secret colors, is the ver- transfer of ownership of land in Murano. eminent personalities of the Venetian the furnace stands a tower. It seems in- manufactured instead of bullets actual- de nord, introduced in 1938, whose It had been just over a hundred years since Republic. congruous: no use in glass processing. ly seems to defy it, where it is no longer transparencies of color evoke cold all glassworks had been moved from Veni- A family memory from the Napoleonic Used historically from the 1800’s, many the ‘chemical element of atomic number marine depths). Not that they are ce (where they had caused too many disa- era is recalled, when an admiral of the years before the prize-winning Murano 82, with a melting point of 327.5 degrees strous fi res) to Murano “an island within Emperor Napoleon meets the Seguso fa- glass production takes up residence the- Celsius, which is the lead, but the silica, a an island”, more controllable, more, then, it re. Instead of glass, here were treated compound which melts at temperatures mily with a proposal: “We were off ered metals to manufacture small bullets. much higher, around 1700 degrees Cel- Created by bringing the melted metal to sius. And, together, the silica - essentially In the furnace the maestri continue to handle the perforated iron pipes the top of the tower, and dripping from sand - now comes into play along with a that pick up glass from the oven, the glass is shaped by hand or with the crucible down to the siphon. Du- host of other components. Those that are ring the fall, the lead cooled taking the used to create the infi nite catalog of Mura- molds, antique instruments, unchanged and strictly personal. desired spherical shape. Seldom does nese color productions. so) now reacquired by the heirs of the twen- ty-third generation. Next to the fi gures of the family, is not to be neglected the importance of Flavio Poli, Venetian born in 1912, who comes into contact with Seguso in 1934 and will, for 1.The “libro delle thirty years, serve as artistic director, designer partie” of the Seguso and also a partner of the company. family contains the secret color recipes. On the production side, the Seguso family 2.The Nelle Alpi proudly proceeds on the road of research, cre- chandelier designed ating, through the hands of Archimede, the by Pierpaolo Seguso, “vetro massiccio “, (solid glass) and perfecting, 2015 collection. with Angelo, the technique of “sommerso” 3.The Mumbai (layers of glass superimposed in contrasting collection colors) that won the Compasso d’Oro award in 1954. The catalog of products, then as now, is end- less and with a distinctive feature compared to other brands of Murano. “For us, design is at the service of the material. Elsewhere, it is the opposite,” says Gianluca, President and CEO. There is however an extended time – from the 1970’s to the beginning of the new millen- nium - in which the heart of the production of Seguso Vetri d’Arte is separated from family members, but another branch of the business remains. It will take long and laborious steps together with several partners, all renow- to arrive to the present. Seguso Vetri d’Arte is ned glass masters including Antonio Seguso now led by brothers Gianluca and Pierpaolo, (great-grandfather of the current owners). together with American partners, and Gia- In the early 1930’s - after the great economic nandrea and MariaGiulia (all the children of Gardner, Katherine de Kay Bronson or Sir crisis, which severely aff ects this sector - Giampaolo and grandchildren of Archimede): Henry Austen Layard (all characters, by the the Seguso family takes control and changes between 2009 and 2013, under this brand way, friends or acquaintances of Henry Ja- the name to Seguso Vetri d’Arte. The com- they have also joined Seguso, and Seguso Inte- mes and, ideal to be included in some of his plex history of the glassworks is carefully riors, giving new force to a centuries oldfame work). In the art world the avant-garde is reconstructed by Marc Heiremans in an that now internationally spans all forms of use born. In Italy, the futurists are rampant but impressive volume (Seguso Vetri d’Arte; pu- of glass for furnishings anddecoration. This is the glass is not interested much. Murano re- blished Arnoldsche). We need only to briefl y the case of the glass door handles for the bouti- mains more linked to movements such as Art summarize them considering that equally ques of Dior and Fendi, in keeping, moreover, Deco. Everything fades into the background complex is the fate of the rich and impor- with the tradition that had brought Seguso to with the Great War. In the lagoon, the activi- tant corporate archives, a key player in the furnish the interior lighting of the Andrea Do- ty of the furnaces is suspended when, in 1917, history of Murano glass: remained largely ria (now, however, it is the Four Seasons Hotel the Austrian advance threatens Venice. At intact until the early 90’s, when it was then in Dubai) or street lamps along the streets of the resumption in 1919, the cards are mixed divided, in part donated to the Cini Founda- Lido (for which the restoration of was recently again. The Barovier’s liquidate their old com- tion, for another share (which can still cover started ...). pany, la Artisti Barovier, and create another chronologically all production signed Segu- In the furnace the maestri continue to hand- le their “canne de soffi o”, the perforated iron In various documents of the Venetian Republic, pipes that pick up glass from the oven, they Segusos occur as glassmakers before that, in blow and it is formed, by hand or with molds, antique instruments, unchanged and strictly 1605, the public register of companies is created personal, these pipes, as the “bardella”, the wo- oden axle that the master ties to the thigh to support his tools, the “tagianti” what they call the scissors of various shapes, or the “borsella”, tweezers that are used for cutting and decora- tion: “Glass, however, will never be considered ‘old’ because its value is in the transmission of light, with a variety equal to that of the sun- sets,” says Giampaolo, the father, from his stu- dio above the furnace where he still develops imaginative creations.