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VENINI: a story, an artistic excellence, a typically Italian passion
Founded in 1921 by Paolo Venini, a Milanese lawyer, and Giacomo
Cappellin, a Venetian antiques dealer, Venini SpA, then Cappellin
- Venini & C., would become a model of excellence in the world of
artistic glass, laying the foundations for a stylistic identity that still
distinguishes it today.
Over time, Venini entered into important partnerships with artists
such as Napoleone Martinuzzi, Carlo Scarpa, Vittorio Zecchin,
and, in the post-war period, Gio Ponti and Mimmo Rotella; then
came the contributions of designers and architects the likes of
Peter Marino, Tadao Ando, Gae Aulenti, Massimiliano Fuksas,
Ettore Sottsass, Alessandro Mendini, Gaetano Pesce, Emmanuel
Babled, Francesco Lucchese, Monica Guggisberg, Philip Baldwin,
Ron Arad and Michela Cattai.
The forms and style of the original artistic production are thus
continuously refreshed. With its iconic projects and new creations,
the glassworks presents its works in two collections:
Art Glass brings together a series of extraordinary sculptural vases
and objects for interior decoration; Art Light features chandeliers
and important lighting installations for large public or private
spaces.
Venini boasts an unmatched colour palette that, together with
the glassworking techniques, is part of a cultural heritage handed
down from generation to generation. The Venini furnace is, in
fact, the only one capable of producing 125 colours of glass, the
fruit of a long and passionate search for formulae yielding new
combinations. Furthermore, the structure is organized to work with
a palette of 12 colours, using 12 ovens simultaneously fired up.
VENINI has always created objects with a timeless design that are
destined to appreciate in value.
Thanks to the excellence of quality, the high artistic content, and
the manufacturing value intrinsic to each piece, the hammer
prices of VENINI glassware reach record figures at major auctions;
in fact, the highest price ever paid for a Murano art object was for
a VENINI piece, “La Sentinella di Venezia” of 1962, which fetched
737 thousand dollars.
Creations bearing the Venini signature have become part of
the permanent collections of museums of such calibre as the
Metropolitan Museum and MoMA in New York, the Fondation
Cartier in Paris, and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
Venini’s own museum contains 45,000 drawings, 10,000 vintage
photos and 4,000 works of art, making it the most valuable
historical archive of modern and contemporary glass art.
Since 2016, the Damiani family (owners of the homonymous
international luxury jewellery brand), have held the controlling
interest in Venini S.p.A., and their aim is to promote one of Italy’s
most authentically excellent brands.
A T Y P I C A L LY I TA L I A N PA S S I O N
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