“A macchie” glass plate with black abstract decoration on blue background, iridised surface

Carlo Scarpa presented an innovative limited-edition series for Venini at the 1942 Venice Biennale made with the incalmo hot joining technique to obtain oblong, asymmetrical objects with extremely simple embellishment recalling Late Roman glass. Extensive research in forms was matched by the skill of the gifted glassblowers employed by Venini. Very few pieces were produced, also due to doubts as to whether their absolute novelty would be fully understood.

Francesco Dal Co described Scarpa’s development of his design at Venini as follows: “Even his earliest works in Murano reveal the characteristic traits of Scarpa’s style based on a solid academic training, on one hand, and a peerless refinement in the understanding of the use of materials on the other. Murano was the ideal setting, above all, for the maturation of this second aspect of his personality that would evolve and refine over the years in the process of acquiring a profession that let him distil in the most original forms a constructive fantasy in which the works of his maturity approached a radical form of freedom.”

Previously unpublished