Though Murano is overrun with touristy glass making operations that churn out glass knickknacks galore, Massimiliano Schiavon is one of less that ten on the glass making island of Murano outside Venice that are devoted to glassworks as pure art. These are big ticket art works--- at any one time you are seeing art valued at about 10,000 Euros being created on the glassworks floor.
Like his father and uncle before him, and the five generations before them, Massimiliano is the big name artist here who continues the family traditions. You find his work in about half a dozen US art galleries at any one time. If you visit luxury spots in Venice like Palazzo Ca’Sagredo you will begin to spot his work there too, or in the nearby Glass Museum of Murano, or at the famed Venice Biennale.
It is at the Massimiliano Schiavon glassworks though where you get to soak up the miracle of their artistry and the exacting effort that goes into creating these artworks. Massimiliano picks out a few colors of glass rods and they go into a first oven heated to about 700 degrees Centigrade. These get rolled onto transparent glass into the desired composition. You then see them repeating this again and again, with the fire turning the glass red, coming out for adjustment and then returning again and again. Slow and painstaking, this is actually high drama! You too can sit there mesmerized with wonder on how it will all turn out.
Eventually the piece is ready for one or two days of tempering, and after that a visit to the finishing area where final touches are made with sanding and polishing.
