Description
Like his set of Rose drinking glasses, Giberto sees his Poppy Vase as a natural follow-on from the traditional Venetian “goto” tumbler.
The Rose is one of the most precious within Giberto’s glass collections. It has the simple shape of the classic Venetian Vaso and it is hand blown in an intense pink, from which it is named.
This specific hue of pink, so rich and worm, is obtained with an antique and sophisticated artisanal technique: ruby and gold dust are added while the glass is still being melted, and then solidify through various phases in the furnace. Finally, the red rim is hot sealed to glass and contrasts the rose color of the base.
Following on from his set of Rose glasses, Giberto has continued the theme with a vase, whose larger size highlights the shifting colours to even greater effect.
Simple, ineffably elegant, yet quietly assertive, the slightly flared Poppy Vase is fashioned exclusively by Murano craftsmen. Its myriad shades and reflections are best offset when placed on a large table filled with beautiful poppy flowers.
The Designer
The life of Giberto Arrivabene Valenti Gonzaga is viscerally linked to Venice. His childhood memories, the most beautiful, are those that have taken place in the rooms of Palazzo Papadopoli, between frescoes of Tiepolo and family affection. “In my earliest memories Venice had other colours. It was more obscure, dramatic, decayed and deeply romantic – simply beautiful. There wasn’t the same light like there is today – more dazzling perhaps, but less poetic.”
Craftmanship
Each piece derives from a watercolour sketch made by Giberto on tracing paper: “When I see something that inspires me, or an object that I like, I sketch and rework it – then move on to the realization of it.”
The glass, the main material in the collections, is worked exclusively in Murano. Each glass, each specific object, is blown by master glassmakers in the Venetian furnaces.
Giberto takes his watercolours to discuss with them and refine the project, check its feasibility, and to make eventual changes.
