Vetri Soffiati Muranesi Cappellin Venini & C. 1921–1925

Cappellin Venini & C. was founded in 1921 after the meeting of the Venetians Giacomo Cappellin and Luigi Ceresa, the Milanese Paolo Venini, and the German-born Emilio Ochs. It first settled in the furnace abandoned by Andrea Rioda. Rioda had died prematurely, leaving the technical direction of his company to Giovanni Seguso, better known to some as Patare. Under the artistic direction of Vittorio Zecchin, Cappellin Venini & C. produced collections characterized by essential forms, some of which were inspired by the Renaissance glass pieces reproduced by sixteenth-century painters in the Veneto region. The company received widespread acclaim at the major exhibitions of decorative arts of the ’20s such as the Biennale di Monza (1923, 1925), the Biennale di Venezia (1924), and the Paris Exposition (1925). Cappellin and Venini separated due to irreconcilable differences, and the company was closed in May of 1925. Subsequently, Paolo Venini and Ochs took the furnace and created a new company named Vetri Soffiati Muranesi Venini & C. Giacomo Cappellin took the glassblowers and Vittorio Zecchin with him and founded a new company with a new furnace: the Maestri Vetrai Muranesi Cappellin & C.