| 21/05/2007 | Crafts | Finland |
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Finns at Venini
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| Posted by Emma Nori | |
  The Venini glassworks on the island of Murano in Venice is an outright symbol of new Venetian glass. After the Milan Triennial exhibitions during the 1950s and the intervening decades, the Finnish designers Tapio Wirkkala (1915-1985) and Timo Sarpaneva (1926-2006), the masters of the golden age of Finnish design, are now on show together, in addition to Harri Koskinen (b. 1970), the international ambassador of contemporary Finnish design. Paolo Venini (1895-1959), originally a lawyer from Milan, established a glassworks at Murano, Venice in 1921. Venini glass soon became an integral aspect of modern design in Italy, being created by Vittorio Zecchin, Napoleone Martinuzzi, Tomaso Buzzi, Carlo Scarpa, the Swedish ceramist Tyra Lundgren, and Fulvio Bianconi among others. After the Second World War, blown objects of thin, bright colours became prominent among the products of Venini. These pieces employed traditional Venetian techniques, such as filigree and murrinis. After the death of Paolo Venini in 1959, the management of the company was taken over by his son-in-law Ludovico Diaz de Santillana. Future developments were marked by the visits of several foreign glass artists at Venini. Among them Tapio Wirkkala began to design glass for Venini around the middle of the 1960s. Timo Sarpaneva's work at Venini in 1989-1990 included not only experimentation and colours but also techniques not available in Iittala glassworks in Finland. Harri Koskinen's collaboration with Venini began in 1999. The contributors to the catalogue are Professor Helmut Ricke of museum kunst palast, Glasmuseum Hentrich, Düsseldorf, Maaria Wirkkala, Marjatta Sarpaneva, Kaisa Koivisto and Hannele Viilomaa. The graphic designer and exhibition architect is Päivi Kekäläinen. ________________________ Finnish Glass Museum Tehtaankatu 23 Riihimäki Finland TEL : +358 (0)19 758 4108 glass.museum@riihimaki.fi www.riihimaki.fi |