design and arts

Seguso Vetri D´arte


In 1933, a group of glass blowers, who had left the factory Barovier & C., founded its own company under the name Artistica Soffiera e Vetreria Barovier Seguso Ferro. In 1937, Luigi Ferro left the factory, and the factory's name changed into Seguso Vetri d'Arte.

The first produced items were blown glass, stylised figures, animals and cactuses following the latest fashion.

Vittorio Zecchin, the first artistic director was not very much interested in the new techniques and was quickly replaced by Flavio Poli, who had already had a name in the company I.V.A.M. Poli worked a lot with external glass blowers, e.g. Archimede Seguso. He became a partner. A.S.'s passion was the work with very thick material and the inclusion of metal particles and air bubbles (= Bulicante glass). At the Biennale hot-modelled animals, vases in Coroso- and Bulicante technique were shown. The journal Domus published many of these objects.

At the Biennale of 1948 lightweight vases with coloured ribbons were shown. At the height of his artistic development (1950 to 1960), Flavio Poli designed whole series of Sommerso objects in simple forms. They were characterised by the use of gold colour and the contrast between a thick and heavy bottom and a very delicate and thin edging. A further important section of the company was the production of lamps, especially taken for public places, in big hotels and on ships.