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(Barovier & Toso)
 This story is set on an island. Murano which, like many other islands is a place of mystery and marvel.
A document of 982 AD refers to one Domenico, who was a fiolario or bottle blower. We also know that, in 1291 the glass-markers' furnaces were moved from Venice to Murano. While the official reason was that the furnaces presented too great a fire-risk to the city, the real one was actually quite different. For, the authorities wanted to keep the secrets of glass-making hidden from the prying eyes of the competition. What better sanctuary than an island? Thus became Murano the world's first industrial zone!
Jacobello is the very first member of the Barovier family of whom we have information, and this dates from about 1295. Some two centuries later, the great master Angelo Barovier was to leave his own indelible in the history of the Renaissance. For, it was in about 1450 that he invented what came to be called, "crystalline glass", a diaphanous film of crystal in perfect harmony with Renaissance taste, all light, and clarity.
This is the same period in which the splendid blue enameled glass "Barovier Wedding Cup" with gilt trimmings was wrought. This is perhaps the most precious of all glass items produced during the Renaissance.
During the sixteenth century, no fewer than three Barovier brothers had their own glass-making factories on Murano, each with its own trade-mark: an Angel, a Bell and a Star. Nowadays the three symbols appear together in the Barovier crest.
As the centuries passed, the Murano glassworks experienced peaks and troughs, one example of the latter occurring between the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth centuries.
In 1815, as part of the Congress of Vienna, Venice becomes part of the Austrian Empire. In just thirty years, several important techniques proper to "artistic glass making" go into decline. The Barovier dynasty continues to flourish however.
In 1866, Venice and the Veneto area return to Italian rule, one outcome being that there is a rebirth of interest in art. The new rulers encourage the Murano glass-working industry to excel itself.
In 1878, all the Baroviers decide to leave the Salviati company, to set up on their own. This outfit was to become the well-renowned "Artisti Barovier". Exhibitions and prizes -- along with patents filed and new techniques developed -- became the order of the day for this furnace. One example: in 1913, a display of totally of-the-moment murrini designed by Vittorio Zecchini and Teodoro Wolf Ferrari, this at a show at the Ca' Pesaro in Venice. During this same period, we find patents filed for "mother of pearl glass" (vetro madreperla) as well as for "gold-free cornelian red" (rosso corniola senza uso dell'oro).
In 1920, the glassworks were upgraded and changed their name to "Vetreria Artistica Barovier & Co.". That same year Ercole Barovier was starting his career, as both director of the company and creative designer. Throughout the 1930s, 1940s, and even into the 1960s Ercole's work as a designer ensures a lasting fame for the company which has, in the meantime, changed its name to Barovier&Toso, this as a result of a merger with the Toso family, who also came from Murano and had a long history of glassmaking.
The merger brought about a complete change of mission: to render more efficient a working process that needs must respect ancient traditions. Not an easy task by any means but one that was achieved successfully. For, by the mid-1980s, while still being a typical Murano-based glassworks still producing "artistic" glass, Barovier&Toso was a company whose working practices and management style were in line with modern-day thinking, truly geared to operating in the international arena. And still is.
At the same time, the product portfolio was upgraded to make it more responsive to customers' needs. In addition to purely artistic works, Barovier&Toso produces chandeliers both classic and in a more modern style, lighting for public spaces, as well as the goti de fornasa, a contemporary restatement of the drinking vessels produced by the glass-workers themselves. These have become a well-known example of what is called in Italian arte povera.
The number of designers on call increased. To name but a few: Umberto Riva, Matteo Thun, Daniela Puppa, Franco Raggi, and Marco Menacci.
In recognition of their being the oldest family of glassmakers in the world, the Barovier family has earned a place for itself in the Guinness Book of Records. In addition, since 1987, the Baroviers have been members of the "Les Henokiens" , a prestigious international club that counts just 22 members all over the world: in fact, the prerequisites are peculiar - 200 years must have gone since the company foundation and, last but not least, the current shareholders have necessarily to be descendants of the former founders.
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Quick Facts
Type(s):
Glass Maker / Glass Manufacturer
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