Members of the Seguso family have been leading figures in the manufacture of glass on the Venetian island of Murano since the late 1300s, but for most collectors of vintage design the name evokes two companies formed in the first half of the 20th century. Seguso Vetri d’Arte, born from a small consortium of master glass artisans that included Archimede Seguso (1909–99), thrived under the artistic directorship of Flavio Poli (1900–84), a designer with an eye for modern forms, color and pattern. Vetreria Archimede Seguso, meanwhile, was founded in 1946, when Seguso opened his own atelier in order to employ classical techniques in the making of modern glassware.
The owners of Seguso Vetri d’Arte were justly proud of their skills as craftsmen, but they were not worldly aesthetes — and they knew it. Poli had studied at the Art Institute of Venice, originally working in ceramics before switching mediums and taking up the art of glass. He introduced new simple forms to the genre — the best known of his designs being the Valva, which resembles a clamshell in profile — and employed several novel techniques such as corroso, which gives glass a rough, emery-board-like finish. Poli’s most collectible works are his sommerso pieces, made with a layering process in which clear and colored-glass vessels are “submerged” within one another, producing a kind of nesting-doll effect in striking, elegant vases with bands of separate and overlapped hues.
At his eponymous workshop, Archimede Seguso often favored highly decorative, age-old techniques employed with modern restraint. His layered-glass Losanghe vessels have the look of an abstract checkerboard while his free-form Merletto vases have delicate, lacy patterns created by painstakingly twisting two heated glass straws to create helixes around the walls of the piece.
Though different in their scope and mission, both of these furnaces bearing the Seguso name created some of the most beautiful, alluring and exquisitely crafted works in all of modern design.
Italian Murano Glass Vase Corrosi Series by Flavio Poli for Seguso Vetri d'Arte
By Flavio Poli, Seguso Vetri d'Arte
Located in Asti, Piemonte
Murano glass vase from the Corroso series designed by Flavio Poli for Seguso in the 1940s. Biography Designer, businessman, ceramic artist. Born in Chioggia, he attended the Istitut...
Murano Glass
Italian Murano Glass Vase by Mario Pinzoni for Seguso Vetri d'Arte
By Seguso Vetri d'Arte
Located in Asti, Piemonte
Two-color submerged glass vase designed by Mario Pinzoni and produced by Seguso Vetri d'Arte in 1960. Biography Mario Pinzoni born in Venice in 1927, where he died in 1933. He stud...
Murano Glass
Italian Murano Glass Vase by Pino Signoretto
By Pino Signoretto
Located in Asti, Piemonte
Murano glass vase designed and produced by Pino Signoretto in 1960. Signed. Biography Pino Signoretto was born in 1944 in a small town near Venice; in 1954 he began working in a cha...
Murano Glass
Italian Murano Glass Vase by Alfredo Barbini
By Alfredo Barbini
Located in Asti, Piemonte
Murano glass vase designed and produced by Alfredo Barbini in 1970. With original labels. Biography Alfredo Barbini (1912-2007) one of the greatest Murano glass artists of the 20th century. He learned the traditional techniques of glass blowing during his adolescence as an apprentice at the Franchetti Crystals and at SAIAR Ferro Toso. He then worked in the Zecchin-Martinuzzi Furnace alongside the sculptor Napoleone Martinuzzi, the collaboration lasted from 1932-1936 creating the first solid glass sculptures designed by Martinuzzi, this experience will be fundamental for his artistic training. After the closure of the factory, he became a first-rate teacher at the V.A.M.S.A. (Murano Artistic Glass Company, Anonymous Society). Here, too, his contribution in the field of glass sculpture is remarkable, and in that of thick materials, with particular chromatic effects, such as the so-called “smoked glass”. He carries out works based on drawings by the painter Luigi Scarpa Croce...
Murano Glass
Italian Murano Glass Vase Molato Model by Afra e Tobia Scarpa for Veart
By VeArt, Afra & Tobia Scarpa
Located in Asti, Piemonte
Submerged, satin and milled Murano glass designed by Afra and Tobia Scarpa. Number 28 of 99 I Molati series. Made by VEART MADE IN ITALY Signature engraved at the tip VEART/Venezia 2...
Murano Glass
Cenedese Murano Glass Scavo Vase, Modern Design, Italy, 1970, 30cm
By Cenedese
Located in Asti, Piemonte
Cenedese Murano Glass Scavo Vase, Italy 1970.
Murano Glass
Seguso Vase Murano Glass 1950 Italy
By Seguso Vetri d'Arte
Located in Milano, IT
Seguso vase Murano glass 1950 Italy.
Murano Glass
Seguso Vase Murano Glass 1950 Italy
By Seguso Vetri d'Arte
Located in Milano, IT
Seguso vase Murano glass 1950 Italy.
Murano Glass
Murano glass vase by Mario Pinzoni
By Seguso Vetri d'Arte
Located in Uccle, BE
Murano glass vase by Mario Pinzoni, Seguso Vetri d’Arte. Generously sized vase with an inverted conical shape and flattened top, topped by a short cylindrical neck. Made of sommerso ...
Blown Glass
Murano Glass Vase by Seguso Vetri d'Arte, Hand-Crafted, Italy, 1970
By Seguso Vetri d'Arte
Located in Alessandria, Piemonte
Elegant and unusual Murano glass vase, signed Seguso - Now I want to close my activities, therefore its price is more interesting. O/4751.
Art Glass
Mario Pinzoni Seguso Vetri d'Arte Murano Glass Vessel Vase, Italy c.1980s
By Flavio Poli, Seguso Vetri d'Arte, Seguso
Located in London, GB
An elegant and scarce Mario Pinzoni Murano Glass Vase (or Vessel) for Seguso Vetri d'Arte, Venice, Italy, circa the 1980s. This impressive, transparent blown glass vase is undamaged...
Glass, Art Glass, Blown Glass
Murano glass vase by Flavio Poli
By Flavio Poli, Seguso Vetri d'Arte
Located in Uccle, BE
Murano glass vase by Flavio Poli. Saucer-shaped vase in blown glass. Referenced under number 13306 in the Seguso archives The model designed in 1962. In sommerso glass, the gray body...
Blown Glass
