Antica Murrina Veneziana started in the 1960's when the Voltolina brothers began creating various works of art from glass, using the old tradition of working the Murano glass.
They named their company at the time 'Vittorio Voltolina'.
The biggest step for them was taken in 1988 when they've added to their business one of Venice's oldest and most important tradition, the unique method of creating glass arts, the Murrina.
The rebirth of this historic procedure was a great success, and a few years later the company was given its current name, Antica Murrina Veneziana. Because of their immense effort to recover one of Venice’s lost treasures, the brothers were given a medal of gratitude from the city’s administration.
The Murrina technique of glass making was discovered in ancient Roman times but it became really popular in the 18th century, when the technique was so evolved that it allowed designs to be very elaborated and complicated.
One of these extremely complicated designs is the "millefiori", in other words, ‘thousands of flowers’. This particular piece is made by melting together many thin canes of glass. These canes have been made by putting glass into a mould to take the form of a flower, star or other shape.
The process can be repeated until it reaches the desired shape and complexity. It’s all done by hand, no hi-tech machinery is involved.
The long canes of glass are cut into tiny pieces and put together to form a design. The shape is then heated in the oven until it melts into one piece, to create the famous Murrina.
They have further diversified and these days they also manufacture watches, plates, office supplies and many others, making sure to use the Murrina at its full potential. |
