Creative glassmaking like you've never seen before: 12 contemporary chandeliers illuminate St Mark’s Square

To work with glass is to work with contrasts – precision and spontaneity, fragility and strength. This frisson was on full display earlier this month at the tenth edition of The Venice Glass Week. Dedicated to the art of glass, the festival hosted more than 200 events from both Italian and international participants in a meeting of tradition and innovation, and, most importantly, vision.

Explore 12 chandelier from some the world's most notable creatives

Image 1 of 11

The flagship event was called Murano Illumina il Mondo (Murano Lights Up the World): twelve chandeliers, made in collaboration between leading contemporary creatives and Murano’s finest glassmakers, lit up the Procuratie Vecchie of St Mark’s Square (and will stay up until November 1).

Designed by renowned architect Lord Norman Foster and forged by Salviati, The Hydra Chandelier turns traditional Venetian chandelier design on its head – its 20 arms throw light upwards, eschewing the usual construction’s chiaroscuro so it can illuminate the ancient portico in a red glow.

For Foster’s first time working with the Murano maestri, he chose a frosted glass to showcase the distinctive fine lines of the Rigadin technique (a Salviati signature). It gives the piece a sense of lightness and flow, which in turn emphasises the continuous line of the chandelier – no ornate layering of arms, nor botanical motifs, here.

'It's everything about tradition, and yet it's a reinterpretation in today's terms,' says Lord Foster. 'Instead of the mass being the central spine, the visual elements are arms reaching out, which then gives a very interesting challenge technically in how you support that.'

Salviati is recognised for reviving the Murano glass industry since the late 1850s, and they worked with the Norman Foster Foundation team on significant research and development still. 'All those accumulated years of experience to produce a material which is inherently fragile, then assumes an extraordinary degree of strength. I mean, to see that process and to share it is inspirational and educational,' adds Foster.

Multidisciplinary designer Bethan Laura Wood worked with maestro Matteo Tagliapietra of Gambaro & Tagliapietra on Taiko. Inspired by the traditional Japanese drum, its vibrant barrel forms resound with Murano’s filigree techniques (where thin canne glass rods are embedded inside a crystal-clear glass body to form patterns). From the mosaic-like murrina to the lace-like reticello, Wood is fascinated with how glass behaves under pressure.

'I wouldn't say I understand it completely because I think glass is quite a magical mystery, but it was really exciting to start to try and get a better understanding of how you start to predict what might happen with the behaviour of the glass, and you start to understand the way that different paints can be built or pulled to change the way that they behave when they're worked,' says Wood. 'I also love this mix between solidity and fluidity, especially when you're looking at the murrine and the bubbles that we've produced together.'

Many of the architects, designers and artists involved in Murano Illumina il Mondo are continuing to work with the glassmakers they were paired with to create commercial versions of their chandelier with a 'perfection of the imperfection', as Foster puts it.

A rapid water taxi ride from St Mark's Square, Murano is around one square kilometre, and yet according to a report by Banca Ifis (sponsor of The Venice Glass Week), 160 glass manufacturers operate there. Many are still family-owned, and employ more than 900 people and generate revenues close to €180 million. Despite a volatile energy market, the furnaces keep burning, and the centuries-old craft finds new forms through the suggestion of modern creatives and the gesture of the master glassmakers.

'Glass continues to be a living part of its present and future, melding together art and work, culture and enterprise, tradition and innovation,' says the Mayor of Venice, Simone Venturini. 'Glass perhaps tells the story of Venice better than any other material. It is born from fire, from an incandescent temperature, from a moment when everything is still possible.'

theveniceglassweek.com is on view until November 1 2026