A set of 4 candleholders made of reclaimed Murano glass, which we tell you about as follows
“It’s called “Fondamenta Vetrai 97” both because it’s made of glass and in honor of a person who – during the 19th century – saved Murano glassmaking from oblivion. These are the “galottine” (glass offcuts created during the manufacture of NasonMoretti’s famous “XXXX” line, to which a bricola wood base has been added) that Pieces of Venice has reimagined in their elegant new life as candleholders. Fondamenta Vetrai 97 also honors Abbot Vincenzo Zanetti, who, after a period in which the glass furnaces were shut down during Habsburg rule, dedicated his entire life to the island of Murano and reestablishing its prestige. Zanetti was born on Murano at number 97 fondamenta dei Vetrai.
The fact that glass is still made on the island of Murano is due to the efforts of Abbot Zanetti who – before entering the seminary at a very young age (he took his vows in 1850) – worked as an apprentice at Conterie, where his father Vettore was employed. Moreover, he never for a single moment abandoned the idea of doing something for his birthplace and never stopped researching the history of Murano and the glass industry. It was during this intense research that he rediscovered the grandeur of the works produced in antiquity, stimulated and supported entrepreneurs in taking up abandoned techniques, and at the same time fought for the improvement of workers’ living and working conditions.
In 1867, he founded the newspaper La Voce di Murano and the ‘People’s Circulating Library’; he built the civic tower on the foundations of the demolished bell tower of the church of Santo Stefano, but above all, he founded the Venice Glass Museum (Museo Civico Vetrario), in which he collected examples of centuries of the glassmakers art, as well as establishing a school of applied design for glassmaking. Today, the modern Glass School bears his name.
As for the “galotte” (or “calotte” in the Venetian language), these are obtained when a cut is made to create the rim of a glass, which is not formed as an open vessel, but processed in a second step. The material of which they are made, as well as the color and surface finish, is exactly the same as that of the drinking glass from which they are cut – ready to diffuse light and beauty in the form imagined by the designers at Pieces of Venice”.
Alberto Toso Fei, Venezia 10 september 2022
This set of 4 reclaimed glass candleholders dedicated to the history of the art of glassmaking is part of a collection of design objects made from real Venetian briccole wood, which have lived a life of water in the world’s most beautiful lagoon, and reclaimed Murano glass.
We suggest it as a gift idea or souvenir of Venice that is eco-friendly and good not only for the environment, but also for people!
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4 days estimated delivery time
