Venini
We began to collaborate with Venini in 1995: our own Scandinavian influence combined with the exuberance of Italian colour made for a natural and fruitful partnership.
Venini occupies a very special and unique place in the world of twentieth-century Italian glass. Founded in 1921 by Paolo Venini, a lawyer from Milan passionate about glass, Venini created an unrivalled expression of modernism in glass which the company has maintained throughout its eighty years of existence.
From the beginning Venini engaged artists and architects, both Italian and foreign, to develop its products: Paolo Martinuzzi, Carlo Scarpa and Gio Ponti in the 1930s and 1940s, Tapio Wirkkala, Timo Sarpaneva, Jamie Carpenter and Toots Zynsky in the 1960s and 1970s; Mario Bellini, Alessandro Mendini and Ettore Sottsass in the 1980s and 1990s to mention a few.
Although the Venini family sold the business in 1985, the company has steadfastly maintained its visionary outlook through the sensitive direction of Roberto Gasparotto, who joined the firm in 1992. The current owner Giancarlo Chimento has opened the door to a larger international group of artist and designers.