Murano Glass Blowing by Matt Rigodanzo

Last weekend, I found myself in Venice Italy, of all places, walking in the footsteps of my favorite James Bond films.  Although I witnessed no motorboat chases or gun fights in sinking Venetian palaces, I did have a great time thoroughly exploring the city, even getting a chance to see some of the outer islands around the city-center.  A half hour boat ride away is the island of Murano, which is famous for the creation of exquisite and ornate works of glass.  Upon arrival on the island, my goal was to see some of these works of art created, from the furnace to the final product. 

I got off the boat, and conveniently was pointed in the direction of the glass blowers by a local.  One of the “maestros” as they are called was offering his “last demonstration of the day,” so naturally I took him up on the offer.  For 3 euro, I took a seat in some old wooden bleachers, along with about a half dozen other folks, and witnessed a real, live artisan working on his practiced craft.  He dipped his glass blowing tool (which is merely a long, skinny metal tube) into the roaring furnace, and it came out with a glob of what appeared to be lava attached to the end.  He began rolling the orange, glowing substance, slowly making a rounded form.  Suddenly, a moment later, he was blowing and rolling all at once, creating a bubble in the glass which would eventually lead to the creation of a beautiful vase.  As all this was happening, the glass was cooling becoming clear and hardening, making the maestro’s feat of creation even more mind-boggling as the time to morph and work the glass was so short. 

Meanwhile, the apprentice began heating up and rolling a simple cylindrical piece of glass.  The audience was given no narration about what was going on, so it was a total surprise when the maestro cut this cylindrical piece of glass, draping it over his newly-created vase, creating an ornate handle.  He then added a fuel more embellishments with some metal tools and presented the final vase to the audience with much acclaim.

Even more impressive, the maestro grabbed another glob of molten glass, and in less than a minute, using various tools, created a glass horse!  It was as if he was simply pulling legs and a head from a gelatinous mass.  I’m not a religious person by any means, but it instantly reminded me of descriptions in the Bible of God’s creationism.

In conclusion, it was impossible to watch this man work, and not think about the years of practice that got him to this amazing level of skill.  It definitely was a truly unique and awe-inspiring performance that he put on, however, knowing that this was simply his everyday job and probably had been for decades made it more intriguing.  It’s hard to think of too many modern day crafts in which people would pay to watch you work.  Beyond the beauty and wonder, it certainly made me want to learn a physical skill of my own; something creatively fulfilling and as inspiring as watching this man blow glass.  There’s something very intriguing about the power of making, and seeing glass-blowing turned into a mini-theatrical and educational event was something I won’t forget.