Between 1932 and 1933 the Milanese architect Tomaso Buzzi began a fruitful collaboration with the Venini glassware company, which would continue, albeit episodically, in later years. The architect’s creative contribution was evident both in the glass forms and in their innovative manufacturing technique. When Buzzi arrived at the Venini company in Murano, in 1932, he brought with him a remarkable cultural baggage and a thorough knowledge of ancient art, particularly the Etruscan period, where he looked for inspiration with the aim of creating new and original artefacts.

This was achieved through the experimentation with a new glass material, “vetro incamiciato”, with several layers of colour and gold leaf. This technique radically changed the appearance of the glass produced at Venini, contributing to the drive for the innovation of the Murano-based glassware company, and re-asserting its vocation for producing elegant and refined glass. The exhibition “Tomaso Buzzi at Venini”, curated by Marino Barovier, retraces this brief but fruitful collaboration, documented through the selected works (approximately 200), original drawings preserved in the Venini archive, and a previously never displayed collection of drawings preserved at the Scarzuola in Montegabbione (near Terni).

On the occasion of the exhibition, Skira will publish the first complete “catalogue raisonné” of Tomaso Buzzi’s work in glass, edited by Marino Barovier with Carla Sonego. Furthermore, for this third exhibition dedicated to the Venini glassware company, film director Gian Luigi Calderone has made a documentary film entitled “Tomaso Buzzi. Memories of my Guardian Angel”, which tells the story of the Milanese architect through the unpublished notes for his autobiography, narrated from the point of view of his “guardian angel”.

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