Incollect Magazine Issue 7

110 www.incollect.com technique known as pulegoso. A striking crepuscolo table lamp at Pavilion Antiques, circa 1930–1935, also designed by Ercole Barovier, is designed using glass decorated internally using slivers of burned wire wool or steel wool, creating mysterious whimsical patterns in brown to black. Clear glass medallions applied to the outside of the lamp base provide added interest. Rugiada “Ercole Barovier invented the Rugiada technique in 1938, and the process was then patented and was exclusive to the company,” explains Modest Designs, which is offering a rare, unusual example of this technique in which fragments attached to the glass give it the look of dew drops. The item is a pair of “dew drop” glass table lamps, produced by Barovier & Toso, in which colorless glass grit and shards were applied onto the surface of clear glass during production leading to a stunning and distinctive surface patina. “When the object is heated, the particles are partially melted and fuse to the solid surface, creating an internal crackled design,” the gallery says and explains: “The technique was often used to make shades, where the texture produces marvelous lighting effects. In these examples, the technique marries to the pyramidal form to evoke both the ancient and modern qualities of the glass.” Murrine Today, murrine is a popular decorative technique used in glassmaking. It involves creating colorful mosaic-like designs by layering and then fusing small pieces of colored glass sliced from glass rods also containing patterns. A central glass rod is dipped in colored melted glass to build up layers and patterns. The technique was brought to Italy millennia ago from Egypt at around 60 BC but is thought to have originated with the Phoenicians, who used it to make beads. In the late 19th century glassmakers on Murano revised the technique, including the two brothers Benvenuto and Giuseppe Barovier, who introduced the fabrication of what they termed “murrini fusi” glass. Murrine glass ranges from the familiar intricate millefiore Ercole Barovier’s 1938 patented technique “Rugiada” (dew) created the fizzy crackled effect in this pair of Dewdrop table lamps. Tiny particles of clear glass are cast onto the surface of the glass sheets, which then become partially melted, resulting in an uneven interior texture that creates a varied and fascinating diffraction of light. From Modest Designs at The Gallery at 200 Lex Powered by Incollect.