Polpo Hand Blown Glass Octopus Sculpture

Artist, designer and glass virtuoso Simone Crestani is a luminary in the world of glass art, combining time-honored tradition with innovative glassblowing techniques to create exquisite sculptures, vessels and modern objets d’art.

Born in 1984 in Marostica, near Venice, Crestani began working with glass at age 15 as an apprentice at the Massimo Lunardon glass factory. Following a 10-year apprenticeship, Crestani opened his atelier and studio in Camisano Vicentino in northern Italy in 2010.

Dedicated to research and exploring new glassblowing methods, Crestani has moved away from working with traditional Murano glass to borosilicate glass, using a specialized flameworking technique he calls “hollow sculpture.”

By using borosilicate glass, which is nearly unbreakable, Crestani can shape and mold his pieces with extraordinary detail. Nature inspires many of his works, such as his Serpentine barware, bird decanters, octopus-inspired Polpo pitchers, antler-topped Africa Trophy bottles, molecular Alchemica glassware line and beautiful candelabras adorned with roses. Other notable Crestani creations include his luminous E-Sumi wall sconces and table lamps, influenced by traditional Japanese sumi-e paintings.

Crestani has collaborated with leading designers such as Giordano Viganò, with whom he made several sculptural wood and glass tables, and Italian glass expert Roberto Giulio Rida for Bernd Goeckler Antiques’ Duetto collection. Among its pieces are the bonsai-like Avatar chandelier and the Scarabei mirror, with glass scarabs embedded in its circular frame.

Since 2006, Crestani’s works have been shown in solo and group exhibitions around the world, including PAD Paris, the Venice Biennale and Salon Art + Design in New York.

On 1stDibs, find a range of Simone Crestani serveware, decorative objects, lighting and more.

Simone Crestani began working with glass at the age of 15. In 2010 he opened his own studio, Atelier Crestani, where he creates transparent glass works using the lampworking technique. The natural world, with its imaginative forms, inspires his magical world, which celebrates lightness and transparency with creations of crystalline purity. In his poetic universe, the sense of wonder dominates, but fantastic invention is never separated from the elegance of essential lines and forms in harmonious proportion, which make his style unmistakable. In 2020 he was recognized as a Master of Arts and Crafts. Research, innovation and artistic contaminations make evolve his style and the material that informs in conceptual and poetic expressions declined in sculptures and design projects, in micro and macro scale, which enchant the world.