La Fornace
The manufacturing process
This is where the world’s oldest melting process takes place.
Different cultures and faraway countries have been meeting for hundreds of years in one place, the Furnace, dancing together with the fire and giving life to a magic that has become eternal: the art of glass.
La
Partia
Traditionally, the quartz sand that forms the foundation of the glass comes from the forest of Fontaineblau, France. From there, a very delicate process begins: we select the minerals and how to mix them in order to obtain the highest level of purity.
There are many legends about the origins of glass art, but what is certain is that from the 11th century onwards, Venice is at the heart of it. We are in a furnace at a temperature of 1400 °C: during the fusing process, , the glass takes twenty-four hours to melt, smooth out and develop to the finest quality.
Manufa
cturing
Hot end
We use the same tools as those used by the Assyrians and Egyptians. The material is blown or shaped by hand, depending on the technique the Master chooses to do. But it is undoubtedly the details that stimulate his creative flair and sensitivity the most.
From eight hours a day or more: the art of cooling needs time, expert hands and proven techniques. According to a legend by Pliny the Elder, who wrote the world’s first encyclopaedia, it was the Phoenicians who discovered this magic by chance, along the banks of the Belo River in southern Brazil.
Manufa
cturing
Cold end
Also known as grinding, this step includes cutting, ablation and engraving. With this step the glass is made shinier and then embellished with artistic workmanship. This is the creation’s development process, and within it lies everything that glass has to say.
Treatment
A long story
Simone Cenedese’s glass-works are one of the most prestigious. Simone belongs to the latest generation of Maestri di Murano (Murano’s glassmaker masters) and has developed a style with completely modern touches: from lighting to objects, he is always flourishing with new ideas.