Venini

After the closing up of Cappellin Venini & C., in 1925 Paolo Venini founded his own company with the sculptor Napoleone Martinuzzi as artistic director: the Vetri Soffiati Muranesi Venini & C. The artist Vittorio Zecchin designed many of the collections produced, and the company soon became known for the original style created by Venini and Martinuzzi. Since in 1932 Zecchin and Martinuzzi left, Paolo Venini changed the name of the company into Venini & C. and he started working with the architect Tommaso Buzzi. The well-known series of jacketed and lattimo glass cups date back to the 30s. In 1934 the artistic direction passed to Carlo Scarpa, who also designed most of the company production up to 1947. After the Second World War, the Venini & C. collaborated with many different artists, such as the architect Giò Ponti, Tyra Lundgren, Fulvio Bianconi (well-known are his Pulcinella and the series Fasce orizzontali), Massimo Vignelli and Tobia Scarpa. The pieces produced during the 50s, such as the cistallo glass and the opalino glass items, have become iconic. Paolo Venini died in 1959, and his son-in-law Ludovico Diaz de Santillana took over the management of the company, collaborating also as a designer. From the 60s many other artists started collaborating with the Venini & C.: for example, Thomas Stearns, Toni Zuccheri, Tapio Wirkkala (who designed the successful series Bolle), Laura Diaz de Santillana, James Carpenter, Timo Sarpaneva, Toots Zynsky and Benjamin Moore. In 1986 the company passed to the Ferruzzi group, who hired new designers such as Marco Zanini, Ettore Sottsass Jr and Alessandro Mendini, to assure the continuation of the fine quality of the Venini. In 1988 Luigi Lucchetta took over the company, whose name became Venini S.p.a..

Items created by: Venini