Fulvio Bianconi and Paolo Venini

Fulvio Bianconi, who settled in Milan, worked as a graphic designer and illustrator all his life with the publishing houses Mondadori, Bompiani and Grazanti, devoting himself to frescoing the Galtrucco shops and the pavilions of the Fiera Campionaria.

The designer had always cultivated a passion for glass, and in 1946 he visited Murano several times, where he met Paolo Venini. The young man's creativity marks a breaking point in the history of glassmaking.

Fulvio Bianconi's eager search for and experimentation with new techniques for working glass, including the reworking of ancient skills, is a constant for him. New movements and colours are born in the glass that redesign the link between Murano history and great modernity. The contamination of craft with creative flair has given rise to numerous iconic works, such as the Figures from the Commedia dell'Arte, the Tiepolo, the Fazzoletto, the Sirens and the Pessati.

Paolo Venini, a Milanese lawyer with a distant family tradition in glassmaking, founded the company that would bear the Venini name together with Giacomo Cappellin, an antiquarian. Created with the aim of transforming the classic craft of glassmaking into an innovative art, capable of quickly becoming the protagonist of the Milan Triennials, the Venice Biennials and exhibitions throughout Europe and the United States.

A result made possible by the synergy, promoted by Venini itself, between masters, designers and architects from all over the world, in order to