How did a Milanese end up being a glassmaker in Venice?
I owe it to one of my grandfathers. I used to come and visit him as a boy, and I remember how fascinated I was by the glass that I would see scattered in the workshops around the city. After graduating from high school, it was only natural for me to choose glass to express my creativity.
Did you have some important teachers?
Many. My first master was Joan Cous in Bologna, then Giovanni Nicola, heir to Archimede Seguso, Oscar Zanetti, Andrea Costantini... For my artistic training I owe a lot to the three years I spent at the Nuutajärvi glass school in Finland.
© Marco Menghi
What led you to Finland?
I was selected for an internship at one of the most important glassworks in Nuutajärvi. Unfortunately, only a few days after my arrival, the glassworks was shut down, the workers were fired and my internship vanished. I didn’t want to lose this important opportunity, so I enrolled in the school.
Is it difficult to work in Venice if you weren't born there?
Indeed. The master glassmakers in Murano can be competitive, and there is very little cooperation among them. However, Murano has one thing that is indispensable for my work: a perfect knowledge of glass and a competence that doesn’t exist anywhere else. Murano-made glass continues to be a mark of absolute excellence.