Born in Milan, Italy, Massimo Vignelli was one of the greatest graphic designers of the 20th century. His most famous and controversial design was his 1972 subway map of New York which replaced geographical accuracy with geometric clarity.

Massimo Vignelli: “If you can design one thing, you can design everything”.

Venini

Paolo Venini (1895-1959), a Milanese lawyer, and Giacomo Cappellin (1887-1968), a Venetian antique dealer, founded Cappellin Venini & Co in 1921. Painter Vittorio Zecchin (1887-1948) became the artistic director. After a few years the company was split in two and the company Vetri Soffiati Muranesi Venini & Co was founded. Napoleone Martinuzzi became the new artistic director. Martinuzzi brought innovation with the “pulegoso” glass. It is characterized by thousands of air bubbles. Carlo Scarpa and Paolo Venini presented some other new techniques, such as Battuti (Battuto), Granulari, Murrine and Tessuti.

Designers that worked for Venini are: Carlo Scarpa, Gio Ponti, Eugene Barman, Ken Scott, Banfi, Belgiojoso, Peressuti and Rogers, Fulvio Bianconi, Tobia Scarpa (son of Carlo. Toni Zuccheri, Tapio Wirkkala, Owe Thorssen, Brigitta Karlsson, Tina Aufiero, Gae Aulenti, Ettore Sottssass. Mario Bellini, Timo Sarpaneva, Fulvio Bianconi, Elena Cutolo, Giorgio Vigna. Emmanuel Babled, Rodolfo Dordoni, Monica Guggisberg, Alessandro Mendini, Philip Baldwin and many others.

Venini is one of the most outstanding art glass companies on the Venetian island of Murano. None of these lamps are identical and are all handmade/blown.

The company still exists and they make the most beautiful glass art. Of course they have a distinguished shop on the San Marco Square (Piazza San Marco) in Venice.

Lino Tagliapietra 

Lino Tagliapietra was born August 10, 1934 in Murano, Italy and has also worked extensively in the United States. As a teacher and mentor, he has played a key role in the international exchange of glass blowing processes and techniques between the principal American centers and his native Murano, but his influence is  apparent in the whole world. Lino is master in this striped technique.

Lino Tagliapietra:
“I don’t invent anything new; I personalize something … and that makes it something that nobody has done before.”

La Murrina

La Murrina was founded in the 1960s as a small business started by a group of glass-worker masters. In 1974, La Murrina was bought by a family from Milan. Today they are located at Via Isonzo, 26, 22078 Turate (Co), Italy. The furnace is still on the Murano island and located at Riva Longa, 17 – Murano Venice, Italy.