Specchi futuristi

On the occasion of the ninth edition of The Venice Glass Week, Giberto Arrivabene Valenti Gonzaga presents a new series of mirrors inspired by Futurism.

Long captivated by the rich and complex chromatic language of the Futurist movement, a fascination recently rekindled by the exhibition at the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna in Rome, the designer now brings to fruition a project he has been developing for years: a series of mirror-tableaux echoing the geometric deconstructions of Futurist paintings, particularly those of Giacomo Balla.

Numerous technical challenges had long deterred him, until his encounter with AVV Barbini, master craftsmen and direct heirs to the great eighteenth-century tradition of Venetian mirror-making, with whom Giberto has already realised a large mirrored tableau, and three of smaller dimensions.

Technically, each mirror begins with the inspiration of a painting, which Giberto Arrivabene distils into a drawing, first by hand on tracing paper, then refined digitally.

The individual glass elements are cut and then mounted on a wooden backing, with a brass frame to complete. In contrast to the larger piece, the smaller versions differ not only in scale and geometric motif, but also in the addition of an overhangingwooden frame, reminiscent of a coffered ceiling – itself a nod to Futurist aesthetics, as suggested by Balla’s magnificent Splendido Velocità astratta+rumore, housed in the Peggy Guggenheim Collection.