A RARE CORROSO CHANDELIER, CIRCA 1936

During a period of just over twenty years, first at M.V.M Cappellin and then at Venini, Carlo Scarpa sense of stylistic innovation and technical mastery knew no limitation. Over the course of this period Scarpa re-interpreted and created a multitude of techniques, often extremely complicated, that made him the pre-eminent glass designer of his generation. His vital contribution in the development of modern glass has been most recently celebrated by the important retrospective, inaugurated at the Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Venice, before presentation at New York’s Metropolitan Museum in 2013-2014. His innovative take on glass exhibited in the production of vessels was focused also on lighting design, a vital commercial aspect of the production of many companies in Murano. Since his period at M.V.M Cappellin between 1926 and 1933, Scarpa experimented with the new challenges and possibilities offered by the use of electrical lighting. However, it is at Venini that Scarpa has the opportunity to develop further the research in lighting design, given the large number of private and public commissioned that company was able to secure. In 1936, at the VI Milan Triennale in Milan, Venini presents for the first time a range of lamps and ceiling lights displaying a variety of models and texture. The room is designed by Scarpa himself: alongside a long vitrine containing some exceptional vessels in new techniques, such as Corroso and murrine romane, he exhibited some example of ceiling lights and wall-appliques. This model is the only known ceiling light employing the Corroso technique. The technique was particularly suitable to lighting: the softly coarse surface, obtained using sand and acid frosting, allowed for a warm discreet light. Stylistically the design of the piece offered an entirely original take far from the traditional and heavily-decorated chandeliers created in Murano previously. Referring to the various aspects that an architect has to consider when designing lighting for an interior, Gio Ponti praised the great solutions offered by Venini at the VI Triennale in Milan and the present piece is illustrated in Domus magazine as an example.