At the heart of the revival of Murano glass in the 1950s, Fratelli Toso embodies a fruitful dialogue between tradition and modernity, while Vetri Decorativi di Murano - Aureliano Toso asserts a more experimental vein. Ermanno Toso, Pollio Perelda, and Dino Martens were major figures in it.
After exploring, in the 1930s, the new techniques of bubbled glass (pulegoso) as well as red and white opaque compositions, like the other glassworks on the island, the Fratelli Toso company returned to what had made it unique at the beginning of the 20th century: the virtuosity of murrine decorations. This revival was affirmed in 1936 with the appointment of Ermanno Toso (1903-1973) as artistic and administrative director, joined in 1948 by designer Pollio Perelda (1915-1984). Together, in the 1950s and 1960s, they created unique pieces or limited editions intended for major international exhibitions.
In 1952, Ermanno Toso developed the Nerox series, characterized by the metallic appearance of its surface. In 1954, Pollio Perelda offered a variation enriched with colored inlays (Nerox Stellati), while in 1962 the Nerox Petoni series appeared, punctuated with polychrome dots on a black glass background. In 1954, Ermanno Toso also designed works traversed by long vertical threads embedded in transparent crystal, then in the 1960s created several series decorated with murrine, including Kiku, Terrazzo, and San Niccolò. For his part, Pollio Perelda introduced the Cattedrale series in 1957, then Stellato in 1964.
Founded in 1938 by Aureliano Toso (1884-1979), former director of Fratelli Toso, the firm Vetri Decorativi di Murano - Aureliano Toso initially follows the local tradition. Its identity truly asserts itself in the mid-1940s with the arrival of the painter and designer Dino Martens (1894-1970) as artistic director. Attracted by polychromy and asymmetrical forms, he brings an innovative spirit to the production. In the 1950s, he created bold and original models, among them the Zanfirico, Eldorado, Oriente, and A mezza filigrana series, which met with great critical and commercial success.