About Murano Glass
In the 13th century Venetian glass artisans (maestri) were moved to the tiny island of Murano to guard their glass making secrets from the rest of the world and because of the fire hazard posed by the intense furnaces used for glass making. (Buildings of this period were wooden structures). The Murano Glass industry thrived in isolation for 500 years until Napolean conquered Venice and abolished The Murano Glass Guild. It was not until the late 19th century that Murano reintroduced the old glass blowing techniques and entered its second 'golden age'. Murano Glass still uses the same ancient glass making techniques and is one of the world's most highly prized glass.
Murano Glass Jewellery Beads
Murano uses several different ancient glass making techniques for creating glass beads today:
Reticello - uses very thin pieces of glass heated to 1200 degrees. One piece is placed on another to create a cage-like design. This ancient glass making technique has been passed on for centuries.
Zanfrico - These glass beads are only found on Murano Island, Venice Italy and have an internal spiral design.
Murrina - is a very ancient complicated method of glass making, using tiny pieces of coloured glass assembled to form a kind of round stick. These sticks are sliced into very small pieces creating a flower effect as seen in our
handmade Venetian 'Murrina' watches.
Golden Leaves - decorative golden leaves are created by mixing glass with powdered gold. See our
gold pendants.
Lampworked Glass - glass rods are heated until molten and then wound around a steel mandrel, building layers of colour. The glass is then manipulated into beads. See our
lampworked glass bead necklaces.
Millefiori - A second steel mandrel is added to the molten glass to stretch the glass out at great length. The resulting fine rods of glass are then cut into tiny beads and placed into a frame - each handmade design is unique and no two beads alike. The framed designs are heated at a secret temperature and then polished and rounded. Then the Millefiori jewellery making begins - handmade earings,
pendants in gold and silver are all made this ancient way.
