FAQ
Most frequent questions and answers
We are a Venetian company with 30 years of experience in Murano glass processing. All collections are designed, developed and produced with high quality and great accuracy. The goal of our company is the constant search for new shapes and color combinations, thus VéVé Glass is in Murano glass working synonymous with innovation. Our expert glass masters create beautiful glass objects of various shapes, sizes and colors. The craftsmanship of VéVé Glass, the harmony of colors and design are combined with the warmth of glass, giving life to our creations that reveal unique and unrepeatable. The peculiarity of craftsmanship can lead to slight differences in colour tone or surface structure which are the guarantee of quality.
Murano glass is known worldwide for its artistic value and its unparalleled beauty. For this reason, you may often find it counterfeited and sold as genuine. Murano art value is based not only on the ancient production techniques, but also including the use of fine materials: silver leaf, gold leaf, platinum, alexandrite and aventurine. These are high-quality and expensive materials and are applied with ancient and meticulous techniques. If the price of an object is very low, it is unlikely to have been achieved by using these valuable materials. For this reason, it is more credible that fake decorations were used in imitation of the original. Buying, owning, handing down to future generations the original and genuine “Murano glass” is convenient both for quality and value. This is our advantageous and profitable advice for you.
Murano glass works are characterized by small imperfections, due to the craftsmanship of the manufacturing process. This is precisely the difference between Murano glass and glass made through industrial mechanisms, which make it much smoother, bubble-free, and equally realizable over an infinite number of times.
Murano glass, unlike classical glass, is instead crafted by the expert hands of Master Glassmakers, whose techniques have been handed down for centuries from father to son. The heritage of Murano thus represents not only an invaluable asset for its great quality, uniqueness and careful stylistic study, but above all for the culture, tradition and art of which it is the bearer.
The difference then between Murano glass and industrial glass also lies in price: industrial items are readily available at low, market prices, while a Murano glass piece will only be able to be purchased at high prices, given the very high quality of the final product. But Murano glass also differs from “normal”glass in the very materials from which it is made: in fact, Murano glass is composed of an extremely pure silica sand, which is enriched with sodium carbonate to facilitate the material’s malleability even at lower temperatures. Calcium, on the other hand, is added to glass of an industrial nature to increase its strength.
Distinguishing originals from fakes is not always so easy, but an original work usually stands out for its very high quality and uniqueness. In fact, each object is individual and has no copies in the world, precisely because of the fact that it is handmade.
The competition is adept at copying details but nevertheless lacks the skill of the Master Glassmakers and a raw material of true quality. How then to recognize Murano glass? By the price! Such a precious and unique product can never have a low price.
To recognize Murano contribute, however, other factors such as the color, which must be bright and homogeneous, or such as the details in the workmanship, which must cover even the most difficult and hidden parts. The glass itself must then be transparent and shiny: when it is opaque, it indicates the use of substandard substances during production. The original pieces are then decorated and enriched with the most precious materials, such as silver and gold leaf, platinum and other highly sought-after materials.
But how to recognize when a Murano glass piece is handcrafted? Since they are handmade, it will be easy to spot some small “flaw” in the workmanship, a factor that distinguishes and makes each piece unique in the world. Handcrafted Murano glass pieces are usually characterized by bubbles on the inside, and sometimes the surface may be rough and imperfect; when the surface is too smooth, this indicates industrial processing.
So when you are looking for handcrafted Murano glass to enrich your designer interiors, it is always a good idea to rely on reputable dealers who can guarantee craftsmanship in the manufacturing process.
Glassmaking is one of the most important processes not only in the Venice lagoon, but internationally. In fact, Murano glass has a very ancient history and was born in 1291, when the glassworks were moved from Venice to limit the risk of serious fires and control production. And that is how Murano glass was born.
Concentrating the glass workshops in Murano was a strategic choice, made precisely with the intention of secretly guarding this wonderful art that had made Venice a reference point for the whole world. To avoid then losing their Master Glassmakers, Venice itself prevented them from leaving the island, except by special permission.
But, even today, how do the Master Glassmakers make Murano glass? Murano glass is made of silica, which, when subjected to high temperatures, changes to a liquid state. It is in this state,in fact, that glass can be worked and shaped into its unique forms,through the skilled techniques of the Master Glassmakers.
Once you understand then how the Master Glassmakers work Murano glass, it is interesting to know how the process continues: the glass is left to rest and harden to solidify into its final form. This is how a new and wonderful Murano glass artifact is born every day, ready to enrich and give new value to different types of furnishings.
Murano glass does not have the distinction of being a particularly durable material, but neither can it be considered the most fragile material. Among the many different types of glass, in fact, the characteristic of Murano glass is that it is a particularly malleable glass.
Murano glass melts more easily than many other types of glass and thus allows for a much longer processing interval: in order for the glowing paste to remain molten and workable for as long as possible, the glass mixture is made with a strong presence of soda ash. In contrast, industrial glass consists of less soda ash and more calcium, so that it performs with greater strength. Elements such as silica sand and metal oxide must also be skillfully calibrated to perfection so that the desired color shades can be achieved on each individual artifact. Murano glass is thus distinguished not only by its characteristics of malleability and lightness, but also by its brilliant colors and lustrous surface.
It is during the processing stages that Murano glass takes on its incredibly unique forms, precisely because of the creativity of each individual Master Glassmaker, who fuses different types of glass, different shapes and different colors. But how is Murano glass worked? Generally, the working process is divided into two stages.
In the early stages of processing, raw materials such as glass soda, sand and raw are melted inside furnaces that reach very high temperatures, up to as high as 1,000 degrees.Once the temperature is reached, the mixture is processed further, and this is how Murano glass is worked, through a number of different techniques such as aventurine, crystal, filigree, lattimo, opaline or blowing to name a few.
The second stage of glassmaking, on the other hand, includes a whole other series of techniques, such as mosaic, blown, murrina, incalmo, reticello, zanfirico, gold/silver leaf, chalcedony, and striato. Another process by which Murano glass is worked is that of lume and that is one of the oldest processes that allows in leaving a gas flame burning all day to create objects of the most diverse shapes and colors. Also included in this second phase are all those cold processes that allow for special engravings, decorations and grinding.
As it is possible to guess from the name, Murano blown glass is the result of the “blowing” of Master Glassmakers inside long canes (also called blowing canes) that support precisely this material. The technique for making blown glass is perhaps the oldest and most fascinating, and it is also a technique that allows for the creation of objects of the most diverse shapes.
Having understood, then, what Murano blown glass is, it is time to understand what the technique for making it is: by blowing inside the long rod, the Master Glassmakers can shape what is at first a compact lump of molten glass, which will gradually expand and take shape through the action of the blowing.
Once the desired shape is obtained, the artifact is detached from the barrel. It can then undergo further heating for the addition of further decorative elements. This particular processing technique is called “free blowing,” precisely because it is carried out only by the action of blowing and through the use of scissors and pliers. The quality and aesthetic pleasantness of the final artifact are thus attributable solely to the extraordinary skills of the Master Glassmakers.
However, there is also the “blow mold” technique, which involves instead expanding the glass inside a mold: the craftsman will have to blow to make the glass completely adhere to the walls.
Murano glass is a precious material that must be handled and treated with care to maintain its original value at all times. Therefore, it is important to clean Murano glass regularly to prevent its bright and brilliant colors from being dulled by dust that can settle over time.
When it is just a matter of dust, it will be sufficient to wipe the artifact periodically with a gentle dry duster or with a very soft cloth dampened only with slightly warm water. With two passes, the Murano glass object will be as good as new, and it will be good to make sure that it has dried completely, to avoid staining or damaging it later.
On the other hand, if the Murano glass artifact is very dirty, it will be necessary to clean it with slightly warm water but also with a little mild soap. Again, it is important to be very gentle during the cleaning process and be careful not to use abrasive products, such as ammonia, which could smear or ruin the glass. When you want to clean Murano glass, it is a good idea to equip yourself with calmness and patience: it is recommended never to wash two pieces together, because it would increase the risk of scratching them or, in general, damaging them. If it is then a matter of cleaning a Murano glass chandelier instead of an artifact, it is recommended to go around it instead of rotating it. Finally, jewelry should always be stored in a dry container that prevents exposure to oxidizing agents or environments.
Murano glass is a product that is made by mixing silica with materials such as quartz, sand and metal carbonates. To color Murano glass simply add small amounts of metal oxides or other substances to this mixture.
Depending on the type of oxides, different colorings can be obtained: by adding metallic iron oxides it is possible to color Murano glass green, or again by adding cobalt oxides it is possible to obtain light blue, with colloidal gold or copper oxides it is possible to obtain red, and finally with metallic tin oxides it is possible to make milky glass. This operation to color Murano glass is carried out through fusion, which takes place inside aluminum crucibles resistant to high temperatures, which are in turn heated inside gas or electric furnaces. These are extremely delicate operations, because in order to obtain different shades it is necessary to melt these materials at constantly changing and continuously controlled temperatures.
It is not so unusual to inadvertently bump into an object and drop it. However, when it is an object that is dear to us or of great value, the first question that comes naturally to us is how to fix our highly prized Murano glass artifact. Unfortunately, not everything can be repaired.
When Murano glass breaks, there is nothing that can be done. Of course, it is possible to resort to some DIY attempts such as through the use of epoxy glue or clear glue, but the object broken into a thousand pieces can never return to its original splendor.
The only way to replace the loss of such a valuable object is to choose a new one that perfectly matches one’s furnishings: it will become an opportunity to give a new personality to the spaces we inhabit, again through the wonderful Murano glass artifacts.
Murano and Burano are two of the most beautiful islands in the Venetian lagoon, just a few canals away from the city on water par excellence, Venice. Still steeped in the traditions of yesteryear, Murano and Burano are too often confused for the working of one particular element: glass.
Although the names may in fact be deceiving, the two islands do not differ only in the first initial: while Burano is distinguished by the art of lace-making, it is Murano and hold the noble art of glass-making. The difference between Murano and Burano thus lies in the fact that one has been working glass for centuries, while the other has been refining lace-making techniques.
In Murano, it is possible to visit the historic Glass Museum, which features more than 4,000 Murano glass items and artifacts. Strolling then through the streets of the city, it will be easy to come across the workshops of the Master Glassmakers, which many times allow you to witness the creation of the unique, handcrafted live-blown glass pieces.
In Burano, on the other hand, stands the historic Lace Museum, where it is possible to observe up close the work of the lace makers, who daily showcase their wonderful technique. It is also possible to admire precious lace center pieces.
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