Starting in the 1950s, Master Walter Furlan helped shape the history of Murano glass through his hands.
Forced by the events of the war to become the head of the family, as a child he began working in the furnaces alongside the most important masters of the time (from Alfredo Barbini to Carrara, from Maramaccio to Fuga), arriving - thanks to tireless dedication combined with crystalline talent - to become a Maestro at only 20 years of age, mastering all glass working techniques with absolute mastery, with a creativity capable of combining intellectual finesse and manufacturing wisdom.
Furlan's passion for artists such as Chagall, Modigliani, and especially Picasso, led him to reproduce famous pictorial subjects in glass: his Maria Theresa, Dora Maar and Picasso's bulls, as well as Modignani's figures, are among his most recognisable and appreciated works. But the Maestro also collaborated with Lindstrom, Alinari, Barattini, Wagner and many others. Some of his works are exhibited at the Glass Museum in Murano.
A lifetime spent in the glass furnace taught the Maestro, better than any university, that glass before being moulded must be understood and respected in its qualities, it transmitted to him the knowledge of the rhythm and timing of the art of glassmaking, the awareness that the gestures necessary for the creation of a work must be counted like the beats of a musical score: the work in his furnace sounded like a wonderful symphony, kept alive today, after the death of his father in 2018, by his son Mario.
THE KNOWLEDGE THAT FLOWS THROUGH THEIR HANDS
When visiting the Venier glassworks you have the sensation of being in an ancient renaissance workshop where the ceaseless work is intertwined with the masters’ creativity, with knowledge of the materials, with rigor, with the desires of noble ladies and patrons, and with the reverent obedience of the assistants.
The Master Glassmakers are undoubtedly the key figures. From a very early age (10-12 years), they have shared their existence with the incandescent glow of glass: the experience and traditions of centuries live in them, renewed through the specialization in few, if not in only one, work process for which they are known and held in high esteem: there is he who as a matter of fact is the master in lamps, he who is the master in sculptures, he who is the master in vases … and they have gained a renown that has even reached important Heads of State and their works are displayed in the most famous museums of the world.
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