Barovier & Toso Biography
Barovier & Toso is a Murano glass company. The Barovier family's entrepreneurial activity began in the mid-13th century, making it the sixth oldest family business still in business in the world. In 1878, the Barovier Brothers company was refounded by Benvenuto and Giuseppe Barovier, thus becoming Barovier Artists. At the beginning of the 20th century, the company entered a period full of innovation, introducing numerous important developments in the field of glass production. In order to satisfy a wider range of tastes, the descendant Giuseppe Barovier and the Venetian artist Vittorio Secchin produced, in the interwar period, an infinity of expressive designs using multicolored murrine. This glassmaking process, revolutionized by Giuseppe, involves layering molten glass around a core, followed by heating, stretching, cooling and slicing to reveal a pattern within. In the 1920s, Ercole Barovier, Benvenuto's son and Giuseppe's brother, joined the laboratory, starting the artistic direction that would last almost 50 years and oversee the design of almost 23,000 glass products. More experimental designer than craftsman, Ercole guided Artisti Barovier towards a more explicitly modernist production, a transition that found its first manifestations at the 1930s Biennale with the Primavera series of vases and animal sculptures. Barovier and Toso have created wonderful collections of floor lamps, wall lamps, ceiling chandeliers, wall sconces and table lamps, combining design and art, as well as innovation and great tradition in the processing of Murano glass, in a single concept. Highly skilled master glassmakers operate within the company's laboratories, true professionals in the creation of glass masterpieces, in which light, refined aesthetics and great functionality always come together in a perfect mix. The Barovier and Toso collections stand out for the high quality of each lamp produced and, above all, are characterized by trendy designs that recall harmonious and distant atmospheres. Refined and style-filled lines give life to crystal chandeliers and one-of-a-kind floor lamps.
