This hand-blown rectangular crystal box was finely engraved using a stone wheel. The ship represents the Vasa, a Swedish warship built in the 17th century.
Length 16 cm
Width 12 cm
Height 4.5 cm
For Vanessa Cavallaro, devoting her life to glass engraving was like going back home. After graduating in advertising graphic design from the Istituto Europeo di Design in Turin, Vanessa decided to leave the big city and move back to Altare, a small town in inland Liguria where her father used to run his workshop. The history of this region is closely tied to the production and engraving of glass, which was introduced at the end of the 19th century by a Bohemian master artisan who had fallen in love with a local girl. “This love at first sight started a tradition that has made Altare famous throughout the world,” explains Vanessa in her shop situated on the central piazza of the small town.
Read the full interviewPhoto: © Vanessa Cavallaro
This hand-blown rectangular crystal box was finely engraved using a stone wheel. The ship represents the Vasa, a Swedish warship built in the 17th century.
Length 16 cm
Width 12 cm
Height 4.5 cm
Photo: © Vanessa Cavallaro
This glass bowl was shaped using Venetian blowing techniques during which gold leaf was inserted into the stem. It was then cold-worked and engraved using a stone wheel to depict a circle of cancan dancers in late 19th-century skirts. On request, numbered copies can be made.
Height 21 cm
Diameter 26 cm
Photo: © Vanessa Cavallaro
Vanessa used a stone wheel to engrave this blown-glass vase with six elephants parading around the circumference. The design is completed with circles and polka dots.
Height 32 cm
Diameter 18 cm
Photo: © Vanessa Cavallaro
Ceramicist Ernesto Canepa collaborated on this piece by crafting the white base. He also created three feet using historical moulds from the Ernan factory. They support a hand-blown amphora-shaped vase that Vanessa engraved using a stone wheel. The glass is decorated with female figures and fish, floating between fine lines and polka dots. A ring of narrow oval shapes enhances the widest part of the vase, while the decoration is divided by three vertical lines.
Height 53 cm
Diameter 21.5 cm
Photo: © Vanessa Cavallaro
This piece was created in collaboration with ceramicist Ernesto Canepa, who crafted the ceramic sphere to support the glass figure. Shaped with water from 5mm-thick glass, the figure was engraved and finished using a stone wheel.
Height 30 cm
Diameter 15 cm