Archimede Seguso Barovier Toso Vassoio Torchon Da Portata Venezia Anni ‘40

Archimede Seguso redefined a 650-year family history of Murano glass-making with brilliance and novel techniques, elevating him to an exemplar for the maestros of his time as well as for future generations of glassmakers. This next generation included his sons and grandsons, who carried on and further expanded the family legacy of Venetian art glass. The survival and revival of traditional glassblowing combined with unique design are the legacies left behind by a master.

Seguso grew up in the family furnaces of the Soffieria Barovier Seguso and Ferro, where his training began at age 11. By the time he turned 20, he was a maestro in his own right, joining the family business as a partner.

In 1933 the company changed its name to Seguso Vetri D’Arte, and Seguso gained sole control. He collaborated with designers Flavio Poli and Vittorio Zecchin, which allowed him to achieve artistic sovereignty leading to the opening in 1946 of his own furnace, Vetreria Seguso Archimede. There, he could explore his design ideas with creative freedom. In 2007, the 23rd generation of Seguso glassmakers took the lead at Seguso Vetri D’Arte. Brothers Gianluca, Pierpaolo and Gianandrea Seguso carry a six-century dynasty of Seguso glass into the 21st century.

Archimede Seguso’s art glass pays homage to tradition. Seguso studied and mastered techniques from centuries past, but he also pioneered innovative approaches, such as submersion and unconventional color constitutions. He awarded future generations with stunning and unprecedented effects, such as ribbed textures, rings, needle shapes and the appearance of embedded objects.

A lifetime of achievement created by Seguso is honored in museums worldwide, such as the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, MoMA in New York and Museum Kunstpalast in Dusseldorf, to name a few. His exhibit resume spans decades, beginning with XX Biennale, Venezia, in 1936. It includes a 1989 exhibit of “Il Maestro dei Maestri” at Tiffany Co., New York, and 2013 exhibitions at Musée Maillol in Paris and Museo della Basilica di San Marco in Venice.

On 1stDibs, find vintage Archimede Seguso glass, decorative objects, lighting and mirrors alongside a collection from his brother Angelo Seguso and his grandsons’ firm Seguso Viro.

The still-thriving glassworks known today as Barovier&Toso, revered for its catalogue of exquisite mouth-blown chandeliers, sconces and table lamps, originated on the Venetian island of Murano, a region of the world famed for its production of artisanal glassworks. In its early years, the firm traded under the name Vetreria Artistica Barovier C.

The Barovier dynasty began in 1295, when Jacobello Barovier, mentioned in historical documents as a master glassblower, began pinching, cutting, blowing and twisting a molten mixture of sand and minerals into incandescent works of art. It remained entirely family-owned until the mid-20th century, when it merged with another glassworks to become Barovier&Toso.

Under the nearly 50-year artistic directorship of Barovier&Toso cofounder Ercole Barovier (1889–1974), the company created buoyant traditional pieces such as pendants and wall lights, and it pioneered an array of innovative modernist designs with bold colors, patterns and surfaces.

By the time Ercole Barovier was born, in 1889, his family had already been in the glassmaking business for centuries. Nonetheless, Ercole did not choose glassmaking as his first career — he instead studied medicine as a young man before going on to work as a radio operator in the first World War.

The year after the war ended, Ercole joined his family’s business (over time, in addition to Vetreria Artistica Barovier C., the manufactory’s names have also included Fratelli Barovier and Artisti Barovier). Ercole was appointed artistic director in 1926, and subsequently managed the business with his brother Nicolò. 

From 1927 onward, Ercole Barovier was the chief designer at his family’s glassworks. His style became defined by his use of riotous color and later, audacious forms. Ercole created sculptures, table lamps and other pieces using mosaic techniques to add a kaleidoscope of striking hues to his work. Early in his career, he garnered praise for his work with murrine glass, one of the traditional arts for which Murano is widely known. He became sole proprietor in 1934 and, in 1936, merged his own family business with the Venetian glass factory SAIAR Ferro Toso. They renamed the company Barovier&Toso, a name under which the firm still operates today.

To appeal to gentler, more conservative tastes, Barovier&Toso produced a range of lilting, sinuous lighting pieces that are often described as embodying “Liberty Style” — the Italian term for Art Nouveau, taken from the name of famed London department store Liberty Co., which promoted 19th-century organic textile designs and Arts and Crafts-style furniture in the manner of William Morris. The hallmarks of the style in Barovier&Toso works are elements of glass in the shape of thick leaves, fronds and flower petals, deployed along with other naturalistic ornament in sconces, pendants and chandeliers.

Traditional or modern, Barovier&Toso has produced one of the finest and most diverse catalogues of Murano glass in the last 100 years.

Find antique Vetreria Artistica Barovier C. lighting and decorative objects on 1stDibs.