Sharing of a Rich Tradition Benjamin Moore

I could tell my design presentation to Ludovico Diaz de Santillana was not going as I hoped. Ludovico indicated he was impressed with my work, but did not think my designs were appropriate for Venini production at that time. But as a naïve young American glassblower/designer, I was not ready to give up on my desire to work in a glass factory on Murano.

I had received my MFA the previous spring, in June 1977, from the Rhode Island School of Design, where I studied and worked with Dale Chihuly. Prior to studying at RISD, I studied ceramics at the California College of Arts and Crafts and attended Pilchuck Glass School in Washington State. My interest in ceramics and the concept of dealing with center had evolved into a fascination with glassblowing.

I was enthralled with the process of blowing glass, so going to Venice, with its centuries old traditions of glassmaking and sophisticated glass artisans, was key to my growth as a glassblower. In the spring of 1977, I had sent letters to about ten Muranese glass factories. I received only one response, a cryptic telegram from Ludovico at Venini saying, Come along. We might make arrangements for work.

Based on this telegram I arrived by train in Venice in the fall of 1977 and checked into a cheap hotel. It took a couple of weeks to arrange a meeting at Venini with Ludovico. In the meantime I explored Venice, absorbing the atmosphere.

When Ludovico and I finally met I already felt a sense of comfort on the lagoon. It reminded me of my upbringing on Puget Sound in Washington State. The smells of the sea were familiar to me, as were the sounds of boats and lapping water. I also had a connection with this marine environment, which came from knowing and understanding tides and being on a protected saltwater lagoon.

At the end of my meeting with Ludovico I offered to do anything to stay on Murano and work. Ludovico agreed. I began work in the factory as a garzone assigned to Checco Ongaro’s team, doing the fundamental work usually done by an apprentice, including taking completed glassworks to the annealing oven, opening and closing molds, and picking up wine from Il Cacciatore for the morning break.

Dale Chihuly, who influenced me greatly, believed the best way to learn glassblowing was to carefully watch someone more skilled than you. When I went to Venice, the American Glass Movement was still in its formative years. Artists were mostly self taught. Students in art programs learned what they could from the faculty, but there was no real sophisticated foundation for glassblowing craftsmanship. Everyone had to do their best to figure it out on their own. Coming from that background, I was amazed by what I saw in the Venini factory. Muranese artisans approached the glass in ways unknown to me. The way in which they worked the glass at incredibly hot temperatures was truly awe inspiring. Seeing and understanding the importance of working glass this way was new to me. I kind of understood the concepts and fundamental techniques, but now I was watching the maestri and their teams for the first time. I saw how to properly gather glass, create the moil that is the foundation for the bubble, and distribute the glass around the bubble to achieve a desired effect. The living history of glassblowing, together with the soulful factory environs used for centuries, added to the mystique of the experience.

At that time, Venini had six piazze–one for each maestro and his team. Because my work was not pivotal to Checco’s team, and when time allowed, I was given permission to roam the factory to watch other Venini maestri at work.

After working for a few weeks, I asked for and received permission to use a room at the factory as a studio. I was given an unused second floor locker room with wonderful light that I transformed into a studio. The only opportunity I had to personally blow glass was during the lunch break. I would eat a quick lunch then go back to the factory floor and blow rondels. In my studio, after work and on weekends, I used the rondels to create leaded windows, doors, and screens. Checco was taken by my enthusiasm to learn about and design glass. He took me under his wing and suggested I bring some of my designs to the factory floor and indicated he might try making one at the end of a work day, if time permitted. By the end of the year, we had created a small body of work from my designs.

Late in the spring of 1978, it was time for me to return to the United States and my responsibilities as Pilchuck’s Educational Coordinator. I invited Ludovico to visit my studio and see the work I had created during the year–the leaded panels and the blown objects Checco and I made. He was surprised as he had no idea I was creating my own work and was impressed enough to invite me to return to Venini in the fall as a designer.

I made many friends during my first year in Venice, particularly Checco and his family, who took me on outings around the lagoon and taught me about everyday life in Venice. This time was filled with so many memorable experiences, particularly to a kid from Olympia, Washington. One night I had a wonderful dinner at Ludovico and his wife Anna’s palazzo on the Grand Canal. At the other extreme, each day I returned to a basic room with no hot water where I lived, just behind the Piazza San Marco.

As I walked across the island of Venice every morning to catch the vaporetto I was struck by how little had changed in this magical place. The smells and sounds of the piazze, campi, and canali were so rich and special. Everywhere there were new things to absorb–culturally and visually–the architecture, the museums, and, of course, the wonderful food and wine. Most importantly, I had a unique, hands-on experience in this incredibly rich and vibrant glass culture and returned with new skills and ideas about how to work with glass. As I look back I am struck by the connection between my experiences and the Venetian influences on the American Glass Movement. I was the Educational Coordinator at Pilchuck Glass School when I went to Venice and was so excited by what I was learning in the factory that I invited Checco, my new friend and mentor, to come to Pilchuck with me for the summer of 1978. That summer Pilchuck participants learned for the first time from a true Venetian maestro while Checco had a chance to see the different way Americans approached glass. Everyone had a great time that summer, even with the language differences. When I returned to Venini in the fall, many things had changed. I spent much of the year designing and drawing, a first in my career. Unfortunately, few of those designs were ever executed on the production floor. Occasionally, if help was needed with production, I worked on the factory floor assisting various maestri. At the end of the year I had the special opportunity to spend two months working on Grasso’s team, making some of the finer Venini designs, including many of the Tapio Wirkkala pieces. I invited Checco back to Pilchuck for the summer of 1979 but he declined and introduced me instead to his brother-in-law, who was very interested in traveling to America. Checco’s brother-in-law, whom he described as being a great glassblower, was Lino Tagliapietra. When I told Ludovico about Lino’s decision to spend the summer at Pilchuck he replied, Benjamin, it will take some time for you to become aware of how lucky you are to have someone of Lino’s skill and generosity to come and work with you in America. During my two years on Murano, I visited several factories and observed various maestri. It was thrilling to watch maestri like Caramea, Livio Seguso and, of course, Lino, who was doing his marvelous cane work at Effe-Tre International. Watching Loredano and Dino Rosin sculpt glass, a technique entirely new to me, was fascinating and I was awestruck watching Caramea, a true maestro of traditional Venetian stemware.

I also began to understand that many changes had occurred on the island since the end of World War II. First, and probably most important, was the changed status of the maestri. Traditionally, the maestri were very well paid, but with rise of the unions and the influences of the Communist party an egalitarian philosophy was introduced where the salary differences between a garzone and a maestro diminished.

As a result maestri were not encouraging their children to go into glassmaking. There was also less demand for fine, traditional handmade glassware. I began to wonder, with the shrinking markets as well as the number of maestri, was the great Venetian glass culture dying? During my time on Murano, I asked different glass makers from around the island who was the best overall glassblower. Without fail everyone declared Grasso the best. One day over lunch, Anna Venini Diaz de la Santillana told me that in the 1940s the Venini factory had three maestri as skilled as Grassobut by the late 1970s Grasso was the only maestro on Murano at this skill level.

Checco’s first visit to Pilchuck in 1978 has been followed by Lino Tagliapietra, Loredano and Dino Rosin, Pino Signoretto, and other Muranese maestri. When the Venetians first came, they were appalled by the crude approach to glass used by Americans, but at the same time they were captivated by the American approach to glass where no tradition dictated what could or should be done with the material. The combination of Venetian fundamental craftsmanship and the American unfettered approach to working glass has played a pivotal role in the development of the contemporary American Glass Movement.

At the same time, the American Glass Movement has brought new recognition to Venetian master artisans. Through the success of American glass artists, new segments of the market have opened to Venetian glass artisans, who are now receiving the recognition abroad that they had traditionally at home. In some cases, master artisans’ names have become as familiar as designer and factory names.

In the 25 years since I first visited Murano I have been drawn again and again, like the tides in the lagoon, to my incredible experiences in Venice observing the great maestri of Murano. Since my stay 25 years ago, there has been a resurgence of many young people working with glass. This is evident by the young talented Muranese involved with Centro Studio Vetro.

I will be forever grateful to Ludovico Diaz de Santillana, Checco Ongaro, and Lino Tagliapietra for their great friendship and generosity. How fortunate I was to experience this rich glass culture through the people I met and the environment where I had the privilege to work.

Glossary of Italian Terms:

Campi
Venetian for squares or meeting places

Canali
Venetian canals

Caramea
nickname of Carlo Tosi

Checco
Italian nickname for Francesco

Garzone
entry-level apprentice glassworker

Grasso
nickname of Mario Tosi

Maestri
master glassblowers

Maestro
master glassblower

Palazzo
palace

Piazza
maestri’s work area in the factory which consists of a furnace, gaffer’s chair, etc.

Piazze
Italian for squares or meeting places

Vaporetto
water bus that is the major source of transportation in Venice