Fabio Fornasier: redefining the boundaries of Glass
Me meet Fabio Fornasier in his furnace in Murano, where he carries on the legacy of Vetreria Artistica Luigi Fornasier, an artisanal company born in 1968 that creates high-quality chandeliers following the ancient Murano traditions. This is where LU Murano comes to life, the collection of blown glass chandeliers with an innovative design that represents Fabio’s creative soul.
A legacy as a starting point
For Fabio, the son of an artisan, his father’s legacy was only a starting point. Driven by curiosity and the desire to experiment, he began to explore new forms and techniques, trying to take Murano glass beyond the boundaries of tradition.
“In Murano, they always do the same thing,” Fabio recounts, remembering the criticisms he often heard. A provocation that pushed him to seek his own artistic identity, to find a way to innovate while remaining tied to the roots of the Murano tradition.
The Reinvented Chandelier
A turning point in this journey was the creation of “Aria e Fuoco” in 2003, a chandelier that redefined the very concept of Venetian lighting. Inspired by oil lamps, this creation maintains the iconic shape of the traditional model but reinterprets it in a contemporary key, replacing the candles with special buds that hold the oil.
Unique, protected, and inimitable Creations
What makes Fabio’s creations unique is not only their innovativeness but also the meticulous attention to detail and quality. Fabio not only designs and plans his works but also takes care of making them personally, controlling every phase of the process.
A choice that is also reflected in the use of top-quality materials, such as the glass that Fabio makes personally with various special compositions, rich in precious minerals that give a unique brilliance to his creations.
The result is unique works that find no equal in any other Murano furnace. Works that Fabio protects with patents, to defend not only his creativity but also the very value of Murano glass.
The Innovation behind every Creation
Fabio’s innovative flair permeates each of his works. He has challenged the commonplace of the exclusive use of Murano glass, creating a one-of-a-kind lighting with wine bottle necks, skillfully ground and modified with heat. And then there is ilLUsion, a chandelier that goes beyond simple lighting, incorporating the sound element. No less is LUgiano, a chandelier where a special mirroring diaphragm divides and unites at the same time classicism and contemporaneity in a single light source.
Murano Sottovuoto: Fabio’s artistic soul
But Fabio is not just a designer and a master of glass. There is also adeeply artistic soul that emerges in works such as “Murano Sottovuoto“, where his creativity is expressed in a more conceptual key.
Taking a Murano chalice,an iconic but often devalued object, Fabio decontextualizes it, “ruins” it, and puts it under vacuum, as if to preserve it.
This work reveals a message that becomes even stronger if one thinks that to make a chalice like that takes years of experience and mastery. A knowledge that risks being lost and that must be protected and valued.
A 360-degree research
Fabio’s research is not limited to the product. His innovative spirit has led him to rethink the entire production process, starting from the workspaces themselves. He has designed a system that recovers the heat generated by the furnace, reintroducing it to heat the surrounding environments and to produce hot water. An example of how creativity can generate sustainable and functional solutions.
A look to the future
For Fabio, the art of glass is a continuous challenge,an opportunity to always push beyond one’s limits. And the future is full of projects and ideas, like new creations that could revolutionize once again the concept of glass lighting.
It is this inexhaustible passion that guides Fabio in his daily work, in his continuous search for new forms of expression. An art that Fabio reinterprets with a contemporary look, without ever losing sight of its roots.
Website: lu-murano.com
