The Bite Magazine - Autumn/Winter 2022 - Issue 32

bitelifestyle ternazionale Delle Arti Decorative (International Exposure of Decorative Art) award in Monza, which became the Triennale of Milan. Their accomplishments included supplying ambasciata cris- tallerie (crystal glassware) to the Italian embassies worldwide and designing the Italian Pavilion’s entrance hall in Paris with alberelli (small glass trees) containing curls and fruits. They also won the Grand Prix with a 30-light lampshade and curly decorations, the first lighting device exhibited. Cappellin left the company in 1925, and Venini partnered with Napoleone Martinuzzi, director of the Glass Museum in Murano. Other excellent designs rendered were the large glass fountain and chandelier designed by Martinuzzi displayed at the XV Bi- ennale d’Arte in Venice, the pulegoso glass with thousands of air bubbles, humorous glass animals and acquari di retro (glass aquariums). In 1931, their exhibition featured giant glass cac- tuses and foundations at the I Quadriennale in Rome and a sizeable blossoming tree in multi-coloured glass at the Fiore d’Arte (Art Flower) show at Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. Venini worked with other creatives such as Tomaso Buzzi, who made opaque glass pieces in complex colours, leaf-shaped impressed relief, animal-shaped, needle lace and transparent vases. Carlo Scarpa created the first Sommersi, woven glass vases, and the Murrine Opache Romane and Corrosi series. Upon joining the team, Gio Ponti designed the Crinoline and Morandiane bottles in 1946. Artist Fulvio Bianconi made the unique Fazzoletto featuring a glass image of a skirt moving in the wind. By the 1950s, Venini had accumulated a collaborative group of avant-garde designers and architects. They continued to present at exhibitions in Italy and abroad, including Liberty’s in London, Illums Bolighus in Copenhagen, Palais des beaux Arts in Brussels and Artek in Helsinki and fulfilled commis- sioned lighting projects like Hotel Continental in Rome. Paint- er Riccardo Licata designed new murrine canes applied to vases, cups and dishes, and Franco Albini created lamps with linear shapes and opaline glass. Following Paolo Venini's passing in 1959, Ludovico Diaz de Santillana took over the reins. Paolo's work was hosted as a large retrospective at the XII Triennale in Milan. The first bes- tiary (a compendium of beasts), Toni Zuccheri's Crepuscoli and Gio Ponti's glass window were displayed at the XXXII Biennale d'Arte in Venice. Zuccheri and Ponti designed the Vetrate Grosse, large blocks of coloured glass windows inside iron frames for churches and buildings. With numerous projects over several decades, the ‘70s saw Don Ashton design the 25-ton chandelier on the ceiling in the hall of the Mandarin Hotel in Singapore in 1971. The extraor- dinary piece has transparent glass blocks assembled on a steel structure and transfixed by light and water. They also creat- ed the lighting for the Swiss Credit Bank and the Wall Street branch in New York. Two years later, they provided the new lighting for The World Trade Centre in New York City, accord- ing to architect Yamasaki’s design. Its lighting commissions extended to the Schloss Theatre in Fulda, Germany, with architect Weber, the foyer of the Moulin Rouge in Paris and the Al Hada Sheraton Hotel in Taif, Saudi Arabia, in 1978. After two years, Venini created the lighting for the Royal Diwan in Taif and the Royal Palace in Damman, Saudi Arabia. The Casino de la Vallée a Saint Vincent, the Gulf International Bank in Bahrain and the Al-Josaa Hotel in Al Hofuf were also lit up with Venini in 1983. Venini celebrated its 75th anniversary with an exhibition host- ed at the Giorgio Cini Foundation in Venice, which outlined the company's entire history in 1996. Fashion designer Gianni Versace designed a collection for Venini, V.V.V (Vetri Versace Venini) the following year. In the early noughties, Fuoco Sab- bia Mani (Fire Sand Hands) reached the bookstores, a pho- tographic story of Venini's Fornace with images by Gabriele Basilico and text by Alda Merini. For its 90th anniversary in 2011, Venini presented a travelling exhibition that stopped in several cities worldwide, including Venice, Milan, Shanghai and New York. At the same time, Glass Museum organised an exhibition dedicated to the event. Venini became the first company to be invited to exhibit its