A story, an artistic excellence, a typically Italian passion
Founded in 1921 by Paolo Venini, a Milanese lawyer, and Giacomo Cappellin, a Venetian antiques dealer, Venini SpA, then Cappellin - Venini & C., would become a model of excellence in the world of artistic glass, laying the foundations for a stylistic identity that still distingui- shes it today.
Over time, Venini entered into important partnerships with artists such as Napoleone Martinuzzi, Carlo Scarpa, Vittorio Zecchin, and, in the post-war period, Gio Ponti and Mimmo Rotella; then came the contri- butions of designers and architects the likes of Peter Marino, Tadao Ando, Gae Aulenti, Massimiliano Fuksas, Ettore Sottsass, Alessandro Mendini, Gaetano Pesce, Emmanuel Babled, Francesco Lucchese, Monica Guggisberg, Philip Baldwin, and Ron Arad., Michela Cattai. The forms and style of the original artistic production are thus conti- nuously refreshed.
VENINI has always created objects with a timeless design that are destined to appreciate in value. Thanks to the excellence of quality, the high artistic content, and the manufacturing value intrinsic to each piece, the hammer prices of VENINI glassware reach record figures at major auctions; in fact, the highest price ever paid for a Murano art object was for a VENINI piece, “La Sentinella di Venezia” of 1962, which fetched 737 thousand dollars.
Creations bearing the Venini signature have become part of the permanent collections of museums of such calibre as the Metropolitan Museum and MoMA in New York, the Fondation Cartier in Paris, and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
Venini’s own museum contains 45,000 drawings, 10,000 vintage photos and 4,000 works of art, making it the most valuable historical archive of modern and contemporary glass art. Since 2016, the Da- miani family (owners of the homonymous international luxury jewellery brand), have held the controlling interest in Venini S.p.A., and their aim is to promote one of Italy’s most authentically excellent brands.
