Artemide’s lights combine traditional glass art and visionary lighting technology
Born out of embers
It is with concentration that the glassblower is dipping the blank of the luminaire body into the viscous and glowing mass. With calm gestures and scrutiny, he is gradually forming the delicate material. It takes considerable experience and up to 25 years of apprenticeship, until a Venetian glassblower is allowed to call himself “Master”.
Glassblowing has a long history the origins of which go back to the 1st century A.D. In the thirteenth century, Venice outsourced the production of glass to Murano in order to protect it against spying and to reduce the risk of fire in town. The glassblowers guarded their secrets and only passed them on from generation to generation. Until today, the only few remaining glass blowing workshops – likewise the Artemide manufactory – are still working according to the traditional techniques and every product is handmade.
Where idea and craft are merging
The heart of a glass blowing workshop is the „Vetreria“, the glass factory. At this place, the masters are meeting the daily challenge to realize the ideas and the designs of the designers in sudatory manual work. In the „Moleria“, the careful treatment of the glass as well as processes such as cuts and recesses are made. Glassblowers are drilling, polishing and reworking. The traditional techniques which are used here, are in deliberate contradiction to the modern glass production by means of robots and water jet cutting.
Luminaire Empatia glass production
The future of Tradition
The glass luminaire body of Empatia by Carlotta de Bevilacqua and Paola di Arianello is immediately eye-catching. The luminaire body consists of two layers made of hand-blown glass: silk glass (Vetro Setra) and crystal glass. By combining these two types of glass, Empatia is getting its extraordinary transparency and brilliance of the light. Silk glass is obtained by adding minerals to the recipe of Venetian glass which becomes particularly translucent in this way. After melting, the silk glass mixture is hand-blown and, depending on the elongation of the glass, the degree of transparency arises. Crystal glass, a colourless glass of the highest purity, has always been considered the most precious of all types of glass manufactured in Murano. It is a soda-lime glass which is perfectly suited for the production of particularly light blown glass objects, the production of which is taking up a lot of time.
Every luminaire body is a unique piece and houses a particularly innovative lighting technology. The luminaire’s secret is a high-performance LED which is thermally isolated from the glass body in favour of the light performance. In doing so, light is led with maximum efficiency through a transparent rod made of polycarbonate to the glass diffusor, in order to fill every space with sensuality and emotionality. Empatia is fascinating with a clear and yet emotional design and an almost magic lighting effect.
Empatia exemplify the key values of Artemide, because they embody the things Artemide stands for: the conflation of exclusive design, traditional craftsmanship and state-of-the-art lighting technology.
Artemide Glass Collection
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