Incollect Magazine Issue 7

106 www.incollect.com returned to Murano and joined the family glassmaking business. He was appointed creative director in 1926 and the chief designer in 1927, a post he held until his retirement in 1972, leaving behind a catalog of over 25,000 designs for everything from vases and lamps to tables, chairs and chandeliers. Prior to the mid-20th century and the innovations of Ercole Barovier, Barovier & Toso was famous for formal chandeliers made for mansions and royal houses. It was Angelo Barovier, by several accounts, who in 15th-century Venice invented the first completely transparent, brilliant crystal-like glass by bleaching the molten glass through the use of manganese and other metallic agents. Known as cristallo in Italian, this simple if revolutionary innovation led to the creation of the glittering clear crystal chandeliers that became symbols of taste and elegance among nobility during the Renaissance. Subsequent centuries saw designs for chandeliers and glass objects at Barovier & Toso taking inspiration from decorative Baroque and Rococo styles of the 17th and 18th centuries which, in turn, drew upon neoclassical Renaissance models. Two World Wars, modernism, the widespread availability of electricity in homes, and the decline of the noble houses which once were Barovier’s chief patrons changed all that and the company struggled to adapt. Cristallo continued to be used in the production of glass items through subsequent centuries and today is still used in the production of magnificent chandeliers for royals, designers, and luxury brand clients including Louis Vuitton and Bulgari. In 1980, they created the modern ‘Taif ’ chandelier for Saudi King Khalid which involved more than 2,000 pieces of glass. The design caught the attention of luxury brand Dolce and Gabbana, who commissioned a scaled-down version for their boutiques. The firm made fifty 32-foot-long chandeliers for the Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca. “The Barovier & Toso name has been the hallmark of Venetian lighting for centuries,” says Keith Davison from Casanova Venetian Glass and Art in Naples, Florida. “Their chandeliers are found in top hotel lobbies, restaurants and private estates throughout the world,” Davison says. His showroom offers lighting from Barovier & Toso as well as creations from over 65 other glass masters and firms from the Island of Murano. He is a fan of Murano art glass, but Barovier & Toso is a particular passion. The gallery Veneziani Arte in Rome has an astounding collection of Barovier & Toso glass with an emphasis on Tangerine Dream: Classic form catapulted into contemporary style via bold, vivacious color. A contemporary Barovier & Toso piece from Casanova Venetian Glass & Art on Incollect.