Pendant Lamp by Carlo Nason, Mazzega for J.T. Kalmar in Murano Glass, 1970s

Hailing from Murano, the Venetian island known for its rich history of glassmaking, and from one of the oldest glassblowing families in the region, Carlo Nason (b. 1935) may well have been destined to go into the business. But the glass forms for which he became known — such as the Cascata chandelier — eschew tradition, displaying instead an intrepid innovation born of continual experimentation. This singular column of rippling glass plates exemplifies the designer’s deft ability to create new types of movement using an age-old technique.

Born in 1935, Nason began glassblowing at his family’s workshop (several of his early pieces are in the permanent collection of the Corning Museum of Glass, in Corning, New York), but, itching to work in more modern forms, he soon left to work with Gianni Mazzega, a friend of the family who ran his own glassblowing company. At Mazzega, Nason pushed the medium of glass to create modern forms inspired by everything from Japanese pottery to the undulating forms of jellyfish in water.

For the Cascata (Italian for “waterfall”), which debuted in the 1960s, Nason achieved the effect of cascading water through an inverted pyramid of hanging glass plates, each individually mouth-blown and suspended from a chrome-plated frame for a dazzling, Art Deco–styled display. Lit from behind, the plates have a glittering, iridescent quality. Versions of the lamp range from 30 inches to over six feet in height, with large models featuring more than 20 individual light sockets.

Nason, who continues to live and work in Murano today, would go on to produce artful lighting for Mazzega until at least 1980. While Mazzega 1946 offers contemporary editions of Nason’s design — now called “Water Fall” — vintage examples of the Cascata chandelier are unsurprisingly sought after by collectors.

A mid-century modern reference for today’s Murano glassmakers, Carlo Nason influenced the current tradition of glassmaking on an island renowned for it for hundreds of years. Celebrated for their exceptional designs, Nason’s lighting fixtures are sought after by collectors worldwide.

Learning to design and craft pieces from the family vetreria — rather than partaking in any formal training — Nason was working with the maestros at his family’s company furnace, V. Nason & C., attached to their family home by the time he was 11 years old. Although his roots are in Murano glassmaking, he took inspiration from the clean lines and natural colors of the Japanese metal vases he had seen in his youth at Milanese fairs.

Wanting to produce modern glass lamps, Nason worked with his family friend Gianni Mazzega of Mazzega Murano. The 1970s and 1980s were productive and creative years for Nason as the sole and independent designer at Mazzega Murano. His prolific career has also seen him design for other lighting manufacturers like I TRE, Murano Due and Kalmar.

After a mere four years as a glassmaker, Carlo Nason had his creations displayed at the Corning Museum of Glass in New York. The credit for the artisan’s pieces that were included in “Glass 1959” went to his family’s company, but the designs were all authored by Carlo.

Stepping away from the traditional, vibrant Murano stylings, Nason kept true to his inspiration, working with modern and simple forms that are relatively free of color. Nason told Palainco in a rare 2019 interview that his emotions inspired the shapes. And his legacy includes fixtures that are irreplicable and unreproducible, too — Nason made lighting pieces with multiple layers of glass that would be too costly or difficult to recreate today, and some designs were made with processes and materials now unavailable or banned in the glassmaking world.

Find an array of vintage Carlo Nason table lamps, floor lamps, decorative objects and more on 1stDibs.