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← JournalGuide · 20th centuryMurano and Venetian glassGlassmakers on Murano have worked color into glass for more than seven centuries. Learning to see their techniques is the first step to knowing what you’re looking at, and what you’re not.Quondam Redux · Guide by periodIn this guideA short history of MuranoFour techniques to recognizeWhat counts as evidenceBubbles, flaws and damageView photographVenetian millefiori glass egg, unmarked · Sold · From our archive.A short history of Murano.In 1291 Venice moved its glass furnaces to the island of Murano, and glassmaking has continued there ever since. Old glassmaking families such as Barovier and Seguso, and newer firms such as Venini, founded in 1921, made Murano glass some of the most recognizable of the twentieth century, from vases and tableware to lamps for homes around the world.In the best Murano lamps, the glass body is the design, and the light simply shows it off.Four techniques to recognize.Sommerso, “submerged”, cases one color inside another, so the color looks deep rather than sitting on the surface. Bullicante traps an even pattern of bubbles. Pulegoso fills the glass with countless tiny ones, giving it a soft, almost stony texture.Millefiori, “a thousand flowers”, starts with canes: rods of colored glass layered, drawn out thin and sliced, so each slice carries a tiny pattern. The technique is ancient; Venetian glassmakers revived it in the nineteenth century, and it has been tied to Murano ever since.View photographSix 1980s Venetian glasses: millefiori slices outside, a layer of white glass within. In our collection now.What counts as evidence.Our millefiori egg has no mark. Its first owner bought it in Venice and kept it in a glass cabinet, and we record that history. It tells us where the egg was bought, not which workshop made it, so we describe it as Venetian and leave the maker open.Paper labels are easily lost, and “Murano” is often used for almost any colorful glass. Pieces from other Italian glassmaking towns, Empoli in Tuscany among them, are regularly sold under the name. The 1980s pink compote below is in the Empoli style, and without a label we can’t say more. We name a workshop only when a label, signature or documented design supports it.View photographPink cased-glass compote, Italy, 1980s, in the Empoli style · Sold · From our archive.Bubbles, flaws and damage.The Venetian glasses show small bubbles and irregularities from blowing. In hand-blown glass these come from how it was made and aren’t defects, but we describe them so you know what to expect. Chips, cracks and old repairs are another matter, and we list those too.In a lamp, we leave the glass exactly as it was made and replace only the wiring and fittings.Murano glass lamps are one of our specialitiesWe restore them for everyday use, and we’ll search for one on request.Explore Murano glass →

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More guidesKeep reading.Guide · 1920s–1940sBauhaus, Art Deco and the first task lampsBetween the wars, designers rethought the lamp from the bulb outward. Some stripped it down to glass and metal, some made it glamorous, and some engineered it to put light exactly where it was needed.Guide · 1940s–1960sPost-war American lampsAfter the Second World War, Americans bought table lamps the way they bought furniture. Many were assembled from parts made in different countries, and knowing where each part came from tells you a lot about a lamp.Guide · 1950s–1970sMid-century design classicsAfter the war, lighting became a showcase for designers. Japanese paper, Italian marble and new plastics produced lamps that are still made, and widely copied, today.

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