Vistosi Glass
from the Glass
Encyclopedia

Vistosi Glass was established in 1946 by Guglielmo Vistosi in Murano, Italy. This was a period when Swedish glass designers, benefitting from their country's neutrality during the second world war, led the world in glass design. Their simple shapes and colors and un-fussy designs were in demand and copied throughout the Western design world.

During the 50s Vistosi's nephew Gino together with Alessandro Pianon, visited Swedish and other northern European glass factories and developed a simplistic style of glass which came to characterise Vistosi glass. Gino Vistosi, his brother Luciano and father Oreste, took over the company when Guglielmo died in 1952.

These simple designs fitted well with the prevailing interior design fashions of the 1960s and 1970s. This was a period when many Murano glassworks were struggling to find buyers for their more elaborate old-fashioned designs; a period when the traditional Murano glass craftsmen lost their prestige to the glass designers of the day.

One of the Vistosi company's most delightful productions was the set of five Vistosi birds - blown glass bodies on spindly iron legs. These were designed by Pianon in 1961. The series consist of a cube, a sphere, a wedge, a bent pipe, and a tear-drop-shaped glass bird. They combine simplicity of shape with subdued echoes of the Murano tradition of murrhines, trailed lines, and surface decoration.

The vase on the left above is a Fulvio Bianconi design, from his "Ih che bei" series (meaning "Oh how pretty"). The top of this vase is enclosed and has two round holes. Here again you can see the simple design and color, combined with just an echo of Murano tradition with the four little murrhini inserts.

Among famous Murano designers who worked for Vistosi during the 1960s were included Fulvio Bianconi and Enrico Cappuzi.

In the 70s and 80s the company focussed more on light fittings and lamps, many designed by Pianon. Vistosi Glass was eventually taken over by Aureliano Toso, another specialist in the lighting field. Today the company produces a very large range of high quality lights, lamps, and light fittings. You can see their website at http://www.vistosi.it .