Glass vase Pezzato Fulvio Bianconi Venini ca. 1951

Glass vase Pezzato, series "Parigi", Fulvio Bianconi, Venini e Co. , ca. 1951, original company label

The Pezzato vases are among the most significant objects designed by Fulvio Bianconi for the company "Venini e Co". For this series he used the Tessere-method, an ancient technique used in classic times before the invention of the glass blowing pipe.

The production takes place in several steps. First, the colored glass pieces are arranged on a flat plate, usually in geometric patterns, and then melted, so that the single elements connect with each other. A separately prepared blown form, made of colorless glass, is then rolled over the Tessere-plate to transfer the pattern to the mold. Finally, the object undergoes additional processing with instruments or is blown out.

The objects from the Pezzato series, whose name derives from the Italian word for patchwork, are an embodiment of the Tessere-method. “Venini e Co” had already had similar designs in their assortment since the 1920s, but Fulvio Bianconi revived this motif and gave it a timeless design. He started designing the Pezzato series in 1951 and named the models after cities and continents. Our vase with its red, green, sapphire and straw-coloured mosaic elements bears the Italian name of the French capital Parigi.


original company label "Venini" at the bottom

Bib: Marc Heiremans, “Murano Glass. Themes and Variations” (1910-1970), Arnoldsche Art Publishers, Stuttgart 2002, p. 45;
Marino Barovier, Carla Sonego (ed.), “Fulvio Bianconi at Venini”, Skira publ., Milano 2016, p. 163