One of the world’s most celebrated glassmakers, Italian designer and architect Carlo Scarpa expressed an unusually intense curiosity for experimentation and investigation into the process of glassmaking, a spirit that continues to inspire many designers and design-lovers today. Currently an impressive collection of his work at Le Stanzee del Centro on the Island of San Georgio Maggiore, Venice, displays the result of his continuous drive to push the boundaries of texture, color and form. Fortunately for us, we had the pleasure of viewing his work during our trip to 13th Architecture Biennale.
Curated by Marino Barovier with Annabelle Selldorg as architect and launched by the Fondazione Giorgio Cini in collaboration with Pentagram Stiftung, Carlo Scarpa: Venini 1932 – 1947 is the first public event at Le Stanzee del Centro and the first exhibition in an ongoing program focusing on the art of Venetian glassmaking.
From 1932 through 1947, Scarpa served as the Artistic Director of Venini Glassworks. Here he developed innovative techniques for glassblowing that resulted in inspired pieces from rough corrosi vases to subtly smooth opaque murrine glassware, the effortless brushstroke effect of pennellate and the vivid colors of tessuto glass to his bollini objects with their numerous clutters of tiny bubbles. For the exhibition, over 300 stunning objects alongside prototypes, one-off pieces, original drawings and designs, period photographs, videos and archive documents have reconstructed his development as a gifted glassmaker at Venini. Even a serious of newly-rediscovered technical drawings, thought to have been lost in a fire at the archives a few decades ago, are on view so that visitors can intimately understand the various processes behind the work.
Carlo Scarpa: Venini 1932 – 1947 will be on view through November 29, 2012.
October 2012
