Two sections: historical and contemporary pieces made ad hoc

Ideally divided into two sections - one lowered into the contemporary with nine glasses designed for the occasion by as many designers and made in Murano and one referring to history of the 20th century glass, which shows a possible reference lexicon in which projects of international masters of design and of Murano, Italian producers converge and Europeans - the exhibition testifies, through about fifty “forms of drinking” , some of the valid ways of declining a small everyday object.

Each designer a type of glass

Lorenzo Damiani, Giulio Iacchetti, Astrid Luglio, Martinelli Venezia, mischer'traxler studio, Luca Nichetto, Philippe Nigro, Ionna Vautrin, Zaven are the nine designers invited to each design a different type of glass: the set water-wine-digestive, a glass dedicated to water, a glass for the house wine, the water and wine couple, the beer mug, the cocktail glass, the champagne glass, the whiskey glass and the tipetto, the Venetian chalice.

Formal, material and ritual exercises

The nine designers involved have generated new ideas, proposals and inventions capable of touching, in the words of the curator, "the habits and rituals around the object, the value of its content, the formal exercise, the meaning of a gesture, the material and its manufacturing process, the construction and (re) definition of the known components". All supported by the accomplice skill of the master glassmakers and by the technical skills of the glassworks and of the Murano laboratories.

Experiments of the twentieth century

The selection of historical pieces includes glasses in series, in small series and out of series that illustrate the stories of some protagonists among the masters, districts and companies who have challenged the formal limits, those of the glassy material , experimenting and innovating with techniques and processes, without ever betraying the primary use of tableware.

Few design constraints for a wide creative range

The few and specific design constraints of the glass have found fertile ground among industrial designers, artists and master craftsmen, stimulating very different productions, not only in terms of production, but also of use: daily, for special occasions or for collections.

The masters of the 20th century

Here then are the names of a wide creative range that has been able to combine design and production skills in the best possible way: Guido Balsamo Stella, Achille Castiglioni, Aldo Cibic, Joe Colombo, Piero Fornasetti, Kaj Franck, Johanna Grawunder, Rikke Hagen, Joseph Hoffmann, Richard Hutten, Adolf Loos, Vico Magistretti, Angelo Mangiarotti, Alessandro Mendini, Carlo Moretti, Yoichi Ohira, Peter Pelzel, Gio Ponti, Roberto Sambonet, Alvaro Siza, Ettore Sottsass, Lino Tagliapietra, Matteo Thun, Carlo Tosi "Caramea", Tapio Wirkkala, Marco Zanuso.

The projects of the designers edited in a limited series

The toast ‘protected’ by Damiani

Allatua, designed by Lorenzo Damiani is a beer mug that plays with the rituals and habits that distinguish the classic Bavarian jug on the one hand and the Murano glass artifacts on the other. , precious and to be handled with caution. Ironic project Allatua invites the gesture typical of a thunderous Prosit! to be implemented, however, with an adequate protection device suitable for the protection of the glass: a bumper made to measure made with bricola wood.

Nichetto's little chap

Amurius by Luca Nichetto pays homage to the island of glass in thought, form and technique, focusing its research on the little guy. Seven drinkers of different types - as are the seven islands that make up Murano - are joined together by a single, long stem which acts as an imaginary connecting bridge. The careful composition of volumes and tones makes the glasses appear as though they are tucked into each other.

The reflection on drinking water by mischer'traxler studio

Access by mischer'traxler studio takes its cue from the theme "glass dedicated to water" for a reflection on the availability and access to drinking water. Consisting of a set of six pieces, it intends to bring a message to the table and beyond: each glass is designed and built to highlight, in its capacity, the different availability of clean water in some geographical areas.

Each glass consists of a base and a cup, the ratio of which varies in height depending on the data relating to the water of specific areas. The clear drinker in bubble pulegoso glass accommodates the drinkable portion available; the base, with its two 'turbid' ground textures, reveals the percentage of unsafe water resources and untreated surface water in that part of the world. A thin incision shows the percentage data and the geographical area.

Nigro's unique solution for water and wine

Bluin by Philippe Nigro solves the relationship between the glass of water and the wine glass with a shape that presents itself as unique and, surprisingly, welcomes and unveils two, ready to use in a new gesture. If usually the couple water and wine appears on the separate table, Bluin is composed of two complementary parts that integrate into a unicum between form and meaning, underlined by the transparency of the bluin colored glass.

Martinelli Venezia's tavern wine

Oste by Martinelli Venice is a glass that combines two shapes to generate a new one, expressly dedicated to tavern wine: the Amalfi type, one of the most common counter glasses of industrial production, and a classic tulip-shaped goblet. In this unprecedented form the cup of the glass becomes wider and the rim of the drink narrows, to emphasize colors and aromas. Furthermore, the blown stem blends with a solid base with opaque grindings that clearly reveals the artisan gesture.

Ionna Vautrin's fontaine of champagne

Champagne! by Ionna Vautrin updating the codes of a timeless ritual by rethinking the classic cup as a small festive architecture: the fontaine of champagne. In homage to the effervescence of the contents, the bubble glass cup is supported by a notched foot whose arches relate to the glasses below.

The three glasses - in essence - by Iacchetti

Tri by Giulio Iacchetti develops around a cylindrical shape that moves lightly along its central axis and stops at different heights to give life to three glasses with differentiated capacity, designed for water, wine and digestive. The project is presented as a effective reflection on the formal reduction of the glass object. The clean design is emphasized by the transparency of the glass, worked by lamp, which reveals the 'mechanism' of the glass, highlighting all its components.

The tilting whiskey glass by Astrid Luglio

Tulipe by Astrid Luglio proposes a whiskey glass together with one for water, together, in a set designed for a moment of slow tasting and thoughtful. The classic tulip glass for whiskey here loses its stable base to be tilted and at the same time take on a delicate feminine aspect, between the sensuality of the shape and the delicate tone of color.

Zaven's thin and lively colored glass barrel

The Filo cocktail glass by Zaven is made dynamic by a thin barrel of colored glass that runs through the glass from the edge of the foot to rise, become a stem, continue up to the drink and then beyond, almost to look like a lively straw.