Barovier & Toso Table Lamps

Partnerships come and go within the community of glass-making artisans on the Venetian island of Murano, where business relationships seem as complex as the shifting alliances in the notoriously acrimonious Italian parliament. Formed in 1942 by members of families with centuries of experience in the craft, Barovier, Toso & Co. has proven to be one of the most enduring and prosperous Italian glass manufactories of recent decades. Under the nearly 50-year artistic directorship of cofounder Ercole Barovier (1889–1974), the company created buoyant traditional pieces such as chandeliers and sconces, and it pioneered an array of innovative modernist designs with bold colors, patterns and surfaces.
To appeal to gentler, more conservative tastes, Barovier Toso produced a range of lilting, sinuous lighting pieces that are often described as embodying “Liberty Style” — the Italian term for Art Nouveau, taken from the name of the famed London department store that promoted 19th-century organic textile designs in the manner of William Morris. The hallmarks of the style in Barovier & Toso works are elements of glass in the shape of thick leaves, fronds and flower petals, deployed along with other naturalistic ornament in sconces, pendants and chandeliers.
Ercole Barovier began his personal aesthetic transition toward modernism in the 1930s with his Primavera series of vases and animal sculptures — idiosyncratic milky-white and clear glass filled with tiny bubbles and hairline interior fissures that he produced for Artisti Barovier, a firm headed by his father and uncle. Later, with Barovier Toso, he would explore such novel styles as the mosaic-like Pezatto glass; fluid Spiral patterns; the pebbly textured Barbarico line and the complex, layered and highly colored abstractions of the Oriente series of vases and bowls.
Traditional or modern, Barovier Toso — still under family control — has produced one of the finest and most diverse catalogues of Murano glass in the last 100 years.
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Barovier & Toso Table Lamps
Brass
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Barovier & Toso Table Lamps
Other
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Barovier & Toso Table Lamps
Brass
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Barovier & Toso Table Lamps
Gold
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Barovier & Toso Table Lamps
Murano Glass
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Barovier & Toso Table Lamps
Murano Glass
1940s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Barovier & Toso Table Lamps
Glass
1930s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Barovier & Toso Table Lamps
Murano Glass, Blown Glass
1980s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Barovier & Toso Table Lamps
Metal, Brass
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Barovier & Toso Table Lamps
Cut Glass, Glass
20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Barovier & Toso Table Lamps
Glass, Wood
1990s Italian Modern Barovier & Toso Table Lamps
Murano Glass
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Barovier & Toso Table Lamps
Chrome
Mid-20th Century Italian Hollywood Regency Barovier & Toso Table Lamps
Murano Glass
1940s Italian Other Vintage Barovier & Toso Table Lamps
Murano Glass
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Barovier & Toso Table Lamps
Chrome
1940s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Barovier & Toso Table Lamps
1950s Italian Hollywood Regency Vintage Barovier & Toso Table Lamps
Brass
1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Barovier & Toso Table Lamps
Brass
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Barovier & Toso Table Lamps
Chrome
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Barovier & Toso Table Lamps
Chrome
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Barovier & Toso Table Lamps
Glass
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Barovier & Toso Table Lamps
Chrome
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Barovier & Toso Table Lamps
Gold
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Barovier & Toso Table Lamps
Chrome
2010s Italian Organic Modern Barovier & Toso Table Lamps
Gold, Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Barovier & Toso Table Lamps
Chrome
Early 20th Century Italian Art Deco Barovier & Toso Table Lamps
Brass
1950s Italian Hollywood Regency Vintage Barovier & Toso Table Lamps
Blown Glass
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Barovier & Toso Table Lamps
Chrome
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Barovier & Toso Table Lamps
Glass, Murano Glass
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Barovier & Toso Table Lamps
Chrome
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Barovier & Toso Table Lamps
Murano Glass
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Barovier & Toso Table Lamps
Chrome
1940s Italian Other Vintage Barovier & Toso Table Lamps
Murano Glass
Early 20th Century Italian Art Deco Barovier & Toso Table Lamps
Murano Glass
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Barovier & Toso Table Lamps
Brass
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Barovier & Toso Table Lamps
Chrome
1980s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Barovier & Toso Table Lamps
Blown Glass, Murano Glass
1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Barovier & Toso Table Lamps
Acrylic, Blown Glass
Late 20th Century Italian Hollywood Regency Barovier & Toso Table Lamps
Lucite, Blown Glass, Murano Glass
1960s Italian Vintage Barovier & Toso Table Lamps
Murano Glass
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Barovier & Toso Table Lamps
Brass
1940s Italian Other Vintage Barovier & Toso Table Lamps
Murano Glass
1970s Italian Vintage Barovier & Toso Table Lamps
Gold
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Barovier & Toso Table Lamps
Murano Glass
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Barovier & Toso Table Lamps
Chrome
1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Barovier & Toso Table Lamps
Blown Glass
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Barovier & Toso Table Lamps
Gold
Early 20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Barovier & Toso Table Lamps
Glass
1940s Italian Other Vintage Barovier & Toso Table Lamps
Murano Glass
Mid-20th Century Italian Modern Barovier & Toso Table Lamps
Murano Glass
1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Barovier & Toso Table Lamps
Blown Glass
1950s Italian Vintage Barovier & Toso Table Lamps
Murano Glass
1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Barovier & Toso Table Lamps
Murano Glass
1950s Italian Modern Vintage Barovier & Toso Table Lamps
Art Glass
1960s Italian Vintage Barovier & Toso Table Lamps
Glass
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Barovier & Toso Table Lamps
Chrome