Continuing the glass production of the interwar period and the 1950s, the history of Murano glass extends and transforms. From the 1980s onwards, it has been resolutely oriented towards the creation of unique pieces, designed as true means of personal expression. Contemporary glassmakers are often born in Venice and have grown up in contact with glass. Whether they are master glassmakers creating their own works or artists designing their projects in collaboration with artisans, they produce singular works. Others, coming from elsewhere, are drawn to Murano craftsmanship, which they combine with a contemporary aesthetic.
Thus, Lino Tagliapietra (born in 1934) worked from the 1950s in Murano glassworks, notably at Venini in 1966-1967. His encounter with international artists, such as Andreis Dirk Copier or Dale Chihuly, led him to leave the Venetian glass industry to develop a more personal body of work between the United States and Venice. Davide Salvadore (born in 1953), coming from a lineage of glassmakers, trained in several workshops, including that of Alfredo Barbini. In the family business, he created colored glass beads with a lamp for fashion houses and African clients. This experience fed his chromatic research, which he began to develop in 1987 in his own workshop, creating shapes inspired by musical instruments. Lucio Bubacco (né en 1957), initié très jeune au verre filé au chalumeau, développe un univers foisonnant de personnages issus de la mythologie grecque, du paradis, de l’enfer ou de la commedia dell’arte, intégrés à des architectures complexes.
Unlike these master glassmakers, other Venetian artists design contemporary works made with great artisans. Laura de Santillana (1955-2019), granddaughter of Paolo Venini and daughter of Ludovico Diaz de Santillana, grew up in this environment. After studying in New York (1975-1976), she worked in the family business from 1976 to 1985, where she created murrine vases. She then develops a more sculptural research, notably with Simone Cenedese, creating forms with straight edges that suspend a delicate shape. Trained at the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice, Cristiano Bianchin (born in 1963) began working with glass in 1992. He utilizes this expertise to create symbolic works with clean forms, such as his urns. More recently, Marcantonio Brandolini d’Adda (born in 1991) also develops sculptural research from firing residues, questioning the place of waste and the reuse of glass in Venice.
Finally, Yoichi Ohira (1946-2022), who arrived in Murano in 1973, first worked as a designer at the Fucina degli Angeli, then as the artistic director of De Majo before pursuing, from 1992, a personal career. His unique pieces combine Murano colors with a formal sobriety inherited from Japanese tradition.