Giampaolo Seguso

Giampaolo Seguso is a 22nd generation Murano, Italy glass artist and designer born in 1962. The Seguso family has been involved in Venetian glass since 1397, a glorious period in glass history that produced remarkably beautiful and technically masterful works that were the envy of the world. Giampaolo continues this six century long family tradition at Seguso Vetri d’Arte, their factory/studio/world headquarters on the famous island of Murano. He is known for creating lyrical works rich in color, texture, and tradition.

Seguso’s voice is warm, calm. His intense eyes seem to preserve many past lives. His relationship with his father, Archimede, was fractious. One of the most important glassmakers in the twentieth century, Archimede founded the extraordinary Italian glassware manufacturer Vetreria Archimede Seguso in 1948, where father and son worked side by side until Giampaolo was almost 50 years old. Following his father’s death, Giampaolo was eager to embark on his own artistic path. He spent a lifetime shuttling back and forth between Venice and New York, when he finally opened a branch of his company, Seguso Viro, located in New York in 1993. The trick, explains Seguso, is to “achieve a contemporary look using ancient Renaissance techniques.” With the help of his son, Pierpaolo and his team, Seguso succeeds in understanding American tastes and trends. In New York, where they have found has a strong sense of youth culture, they want to communicate the authentic essence of Murano.

The sense of artisanship is palpable when it comes to his bottega-style job, as if little had changed since the 1300s. The bottega becomes a place of worship. “First there’s the altar, our oven,” says Seguso. “Second there are the movements, which are made with great care. Once the glass is placed in the annealer, it can sit there for 12, 24, even 42 hours, depending on the thickness of the object. During that time, you don’t know whether the object will turn out well. And that’s where the third element comes in, the waiting, which is marvelous. Finally, you have the revelation, and after two days you see for the first time what you have done. It’s like giving birth.” From there the maestro stops, inspired by his latest creations, which he shows us with equal amounts of pride and affection. “Glass, for me, is the only material that can reproduce the colors of the Venetian lagoon.” Engraved in each piece is one of Seguso’s own poems, little pearls of wisdom writ on vases, glasses and paperweights. “I love synthesis,” says Seguso. “I transform the metaphors of my life by creating poetic objects in glass.”

He lectured in Europe and in the USA, has won numerous awards and an honorary degree in Communication Sciences at the University “John Paul I”. His works are in major museums around the world: from the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Corning Museum in New York, among hundreds of other museums around the world.. He works in his studio in Murano, where he received the glass collectors and experts from around the world.