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Elegance, style, refinement: words that are much used but rarely embodied in today's world. For those who still cherish these qualities, Living presents three figures who, each within their own creative sphere, remain passionate devotees of this way of living and creating.

Glass: a splendid fruit of opposing forces held in balance — fluid and solid, transparent, coloured, precise and imperfect. Liquid aquatic transparencies, the glimmer of reflected sunlight, nuances and forms masterfully shaped…

Personally, I consider it among the greatest wonders created by human hands, one that has found its apex for centuries in Murano, in that Venice regarded as the most fascinating city in the world.

Transparencies of regal beauty

Among the most internationally acclaimed glass designers working today, Giberto Arrivabene Valenti Gonzaga stands out, pictured here alongside his wife Bianca di Savoia Aosta in the intimacy of their home. «Venice suits me, it is in keeping with my character: the ideal place to live and to create», he says. Viscerally bound to the Serenissima, having grown up in the rooms of Palazzo Papadopoli, among Tiepolo's frescoes and the warmth of family life, and shaped by a deep sense of aesthetics, his Murano glass objects reveal themselves as a felicitous synthesis of craftsmanship and innovation. His historical and cultural background allows him to create objects with a design rooted in the antique, yet masterfully translated au goût du jour.

Particularly original is this table light switch that harks back to a bygone era, a true jewel that honours the absolute imperatives of design: form and function.

For Giberto, the creative act is a perpetual, joyful discovery. Joyful, because despite the demands of family and professional life, the designer retains an irresistible sense of humour, an irony and lightness — quintessentially Venetian — that prevail over a nature that can, at times, tend toward the melancholic and the nostalgic.

«I like to think that every object I create tells a unique story, personalised for whoever chooses it. For me, design is born from memory: a detail of a Venetian palazzo, a reflection on the waters of the lagoon, a childhood recollection. These fragments are transformed into objects that are not only beautiful, but deeply connected to the lives of those who live with them.»

His original and non-conformist spirit led him to choose the most popularly iconic spot in Venice, number 2 on the Ponte di Rialto, to open a delightful boutique.