This contemporary selection of "millefiori" glass dishes are handmade by Ercole Moretti brothers in Venice using ancient techniques handed down the generations. Established in 1911, Moretti is an “artisan factory” and one of the few left in Murano, a small island off the city of Venice. Moretti has drawn the attention of the international market due to its distinctive formula which merges the centennial craftsmanship of the island’s glass masters with contemporary Italian design. They make fabulous gifts and their stunning beauty is shown off with natural light behind them.
Moretti's dishes are formed from clusters of glass canes, some of which are only 1mm in diameter. The canes are arranged within a copper band and placed in a furnace to fuse them before a cross-section is taken and fired to produce each dish. While some Murano canes are made by machine today, the millefiori canes used in these dishes are still produced by hand.
Millefiori is one of the best-known glasswork techniques which produces unique decorative glassware. The word consists of two Italian words: 'mille' means one thousand and 'fiori' means flower and the name was coined by glass maker Apsley Pellatt who first used the term in his book "Curiosities of Glass Making" in 1849. The term also appeared in the Oxford English Dictionary.
Ercole Moretti is exhibiting at this year's Maison et Objet fair in Paris next week.
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