Paolo Venini
The name of Paolo Venini (Cusano Milanino, 1895 – Venice, 1959) is synonymous with the excellence of 20th century Murano glass. After graduating in law in Pavia, in 1921 Venini founded Cappellin Venini in Murano with antiques dealer Giacomo Cappellin. Already in 1922, the company began to expand rapidly, opening in Rome, Milan, Venice and Paris, and participating in prestigious international events, including the Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs et Industrieles Modernes. In 1925, Venini founded the new Vetri Soffiati Muranesi Venini &C, entrusting its artistic direction to the director of the Murano Glass Museum, Napoleone Marinuzzi. Venini's entrepreneurial but also creative skills, brought the furnace to maximum notoriety; after the closure, due to the 1919 crisis, in 1932 Venini founded Venini s.a: from this period to the 50s, the brand undertook important and decisive collaborations with architects, designers and artists of great fame, from Gio Ponti to Tomaso Buzzi, from Piero Fornasetti to Carlo Scarpa, while the company began to produce not just artistic glass, but also spectacular glass lighting.