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Mid-Century Modern Glass

MID-CENTURY MODERN STYLE

Organically shaped, clean-lined and elegantly simple are three terms that well describe vintage mid-century modern furniture. The style, which emerged primarily in the years following World War II, is characterized by pieces that were conceived and made in an energetic, optimistic spirit by creators who believed that good design was an essential part of good living.

ORIGINS OF MID-CENTURY MODERN FURNITURE DESIGN

CHARACTERISTICS OF MID-CENTURY MODERN FURNITURE DESIGN

MID-CENTURY MODERN FURNITURE DESIGNERS TO KNOW

ICONIC MID-CENTURY MODERN FURNITURE DESIGNS

VINTAGE MID-CENTURY MODERN FURNITURE ON 1STDIBS

The mid-century modern era saw leagues of postwar American architects and designers animated by new ideas and new technology. The lean, functionalist International-style architecture of Le Corbusier and Bauhaus eminences Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Walter Gropius had been promoted in the United States during the 1930s by Philip Johnson and others. New building techniques, such as “post-and-beam” construction, allowed the International-style schemes to be realized on a small scale in open-plan houses with long walls of glass.

Materials developed for wartime use became available for domestic goods and were incorporated into mid-century modern furniture designs. Charles and Ray Eames and Eero Saarinen, who had experimented extensively with molded plywood, eagerly embraced fiberglass for pieces such as the La Chaise and the Womb chair, respectively. 

Architect, writer and designer George Nelson created with his team shades for the Bubble lamp using a new translucent polymer skin and, as design director at Herman Miller, recruited the Eameses, Alexander Girard and others for projects at the legendary Michigan furniture manufacturer

Harry Bertoia and Isamu Noguchi devised chairs and tables built of wire mesh and wire struts. Materials were repurposed too: The Danish-born designer Jens Risom created a line of chairs using surplus parachute straps for webbed seats and backrests.

The Risom lounge chair was among the first pieces of furniture commissioned and produced by legendary manufacturer Knoll, a chief influencer in the rise of modern design in the United States, thanks to the work of Florence Knoll, the pioneering architect and designer who made the firm a leader in its field. The seating that Knoll created for office spaces — as well as pieces designed by Florence initially for commercial clients — soon became desirable for the home.

As the demand for casual, uncluttered furnishings grew, more mid-century furniture designers caught the spirit.

Classically oriented creators such as Edward Wormley, house designer for Dunbar Inc., offered such pieces as the sinuous Listen to Me chaise; the British expatriate T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings switched gears, creating items such as the tiered, biomorphic Mesa table. There were Young Turks such as Paul McCobb, who designed holistic groups of sleek, blond wood furniture, and Milo Baughman, who espoused a West Coast aesthetic in minimalist teak dining tables and lushly upholstered chairs and sofas with angular steel frames.

As the collection of vintage mid-century modern chairs, dressers, coffee tables and other furniture for the living room, dining room, bedroom and elsewhere on 1stDibs demonstrates, this period saw one of the most delightful and dramatic flowerings of creativity in design history.

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Style: Mid-Century Modern
Creator: Venini
Vintage Murano Glass Decorative Item of a Fig by Martinuzzi for Venini, Italy
Located in Bresso, Lombardy
Made in Italy, 1930s. This fig is made by Napoleone Martinuzzi for Venini in Murano glass. This item might show slight traces of use since it's vintage as a chip on the top, but it ...
Category

1930s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Glass

Materials

Murano Glass

Vintage Murano Glass Decorative Set of Three Tangerines by Martinuzzi for Venini
Located in Bresso, Lombardy
Made in Italy, 1930s. These tangerines are made by Napoleone Martinuzzi for Venini in Murano glass. These items might show slight traces of use since they are vintage as a chip on t...
Category

1930s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Glass

Materials

Murano Glass

Napoleone Martinuzzi Attr. for Venini 'A Bolle' Vase, ca. 1927
Located in Berghuelen, DE
Napoleone Martinuzzi attr. for Venini 'A Bolle' Vase ca. 1927 A large 'soffiato a bolle' vase in amber glass with regular air bubbles. Attributed to Napoleone Martinuzzi, manufactur...
Category

Early 20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Glass

Materials

Art Glass, Murano Glass

Large Venini Vase 'Kukinto', Designed by Timo Sarpaneva in 1991
Located in Berghuelen, DE
Large Venini Vase 'Kukinto', Designed by Timo Sarpaneva in 1991 A monumental vase from the Kukinto series. Designed in 1991 by Timo Sarpaneva and produced 1992 by Venini, Murano. In...
Category

Late 20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Glass

Materials

Art Glass, Murano Glass

Paolo Venini Inciso Glass Bottle Manufactured by Venini 1990s
Located in Berghuelen, DE
Paolo Venini Inciso Glass Bottle Manufactured by Venini 1990s A vintage "Inciso" glass bottle designed by Paolo Venini in 1956 and manufactured by...
Category

Late 20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Glass

Materials

Art Glass, Murano Glass

1950 "Filigrana" Carlo Scarpa Venini Italian Design Vetro Murano Ciotola
Located in Brescia, IT
Ciotola Carlo Scarpa Venini, Murano Italy, 1950 Vetro "Filigrana" Rosso Perfette condizioni
Category

1950s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Glass

Materials

Murano Glass

Paolo Venini Inciso Glass Bottle Manufactured by Venini 1990s
Located in Berghuelen, DE
Paolo Venini Inciso Glass Bottle Manufactured by Venini 1990s Item e7105 A vintage "Inciso" glass bottle with triangular shape designed by Paolo Venini in 1956 and manufactured by Ve...
Category

Late 20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Glass

Materials

Art Glass, Murano Glass

Large Venini Vase 'Coreano', Designed by Tapio Wirkkala in 1966
Located in Berghuelen, DE
Large Venini Vase 'Coreano', Designed by Tapio Wirkkala in 1966 A blue and green a fasce a spirale vase from the Coreani series. Designed in 1966 by Tapio Wirkkala for Venini. Produ...
Category

Late 20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Glass

Materials

Art Glass, Murano Glass

Large Venini Bowl 'Coreano', Designed by Tapio Wirkkala in 1966
Located in Berghuelen, DE
Large Venini Bowl 'Coreano', Designed by Tapio Wirkkala in 1966 A blue and green a fasce a spirale bowl from the Coreani series. Designed in 1966 by Tapio Wirkkala for Venini. Produ...
Category

Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Glass

Materials

Art Glass, Murano Glass

1950 Tyra Lundgren Venini Bianco Filigrana Vetro Murano Ciotola Foglia
Located in Brescia, IT
"Foglia" ciotola Tyra Lundgren Venini, 1950 Vetro Bianco "Mazza Filigrana" Presentata per la prima volta alla Biennale di Venezia del 1938 Eccellenti condizioni
Category

1940s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Glass

Materials

Murano Glass

Large Vetro Soffiato Glass Dish by Vittorio Zecchin for Venini Murano ca. 1925
Located in Berghuelen, DE
Large Vetro Soffiato Glass Dish by Vittorio Zecchin for Venini Murano ca. 1925 A very large 'vetro soffiato' glass dish in amethyst transparent glass, designed by Vittorio Zecchin in 1925 and manufactured by Venini, Murano Venice. Acid stamped signature 'venini murano ITALIA' on the base. Venini model number 1306. The dish has been manufactured in different sizes, this is the second largest version which is very rare. One of the early 20th century designs of Zecchin for Cappellin and Venini which motivated the muranese glass companies to set out for new shores. Good condition with some surface scratches. Vittorio Zecchin (1878 - 1947) was a native Muranese and son of a glasswork technician. He graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice. Together with the painter Teodoro Wolf Ferrari...
Category

Early 20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Glass

Materials

Art Glass

Venini Vase 'Fazzoletto' in red, Venice Murano 1950s
Located in Berghuelen, DE
Venini Vase 'Fazzoletto' in red, Venice Murano 1950s A vintage fazzoletto (handkerchief) vase in transparent red glass. Manufactured ca. 1950s by Venini...
Category

Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Glass

Materials

Art Glass, Murano Glass

Venini A Canne Pitcher by Gio Ponti Venice Murano 1950s
Located in Berghuelen, DE
Venini A Canne Pitcher by Gio Ponti Venice Murano 1950s A vintage "a canne" pitcher with twisted polycrome canes in red, blue, green and yellow. Manufa...
Category

Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Glass

Materials

Art Glass, Murano Glass

Vetro Soffiato Glass Vase by Vittorio Zecchin for Venini Murano ca. 1950
Located in Berghuelen, DE
Vetro Soffiato Glass Vase by Vittorio Zecchin for Venini Murano ca. 1950 A 'Vetro Soffiato' glass vase in red and transparent glass with slightly iridised surface, designed by Vittorio Zecchin in 1920 and manufactured by Venini Murano Venice ca. 1950. Acid etched signature 'venini murano ITALIA' on the base. Venini model number 1465. Very good condition with slight inside deposit. Vittorio Zecchin (1878 - 1947) was a native Muranese and son of a glasswork technician. He graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice. Together with the painter Teodoro Wolf Ferrari...
Category

Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Glass

Materials

Art Glass, Murano Glass

Venini Vase 'Lapponi', Designed by Tapio Wirkkala in 1968
Located in Berghuelen, DE
Venini Vase 'Lapponi', Designed by Tapio Wirkkala in 1968 A rare vase of the Lapponi (laplanders) series designed in 1968 by Tapio Wirkkala for Venini. Thin red and smoke grey glass...
Category

Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Glass

Materials

Art Glass, Murano Glass

Tyra Lundgren Vase 'Calla' for Venini
Located in Berghuelen, DE
Tyra Lundgren Vase 'Calla' for Venini A calla vase in filigrana glass designed by Tyra Lundgren in 1948, manufactured by Venini, Venice 1981. Incised signa...
Category

Late 20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Glass

Materials

Art Glass, Murano Glass

MARKED Venini Murano White Glass Zanfirico Fazzoletto Vase
Located in Bolton, GB
Here is an exquisite 1950's small Venetian white glass "Fazzoletto" (handkerchief) vase. Made on the island of Murano, near Venice, Italy, by famous manufacturers Venini, designed by...
Category

1950s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Glass

Materials

Glass, Art Glass, Blown Glass, Murano Glass

Murano Tapio Wirkkala Art Glass bowl "Inari" turquoise yellow handblown Venini
Located in EL Waalre, NL
A capital “Inari” art-object/bowl, model 537.12, crafted in striking freeblown turquoise, pale yellow and black glass. Designed by the renowned Tapio Wirkkala in 1981-1982, this rare...
Category

1980s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Glass

Materials

Art Glass, Blown Glass, Cut Glass

MARKED Venini Murano Green & Yellow Glass Zanfirico Fazzoletto Vase
Located in Bolton, GB
Here is an exquisite 1950's small Venetian green & yellow glass "Fazzoletto" (handkerchief) vase. Made on the island of Murano, near Venice, Italy, by famous manufacturers Venini, de...
Category

1950s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Glass

Materials

Glass, Art Glass, Blown Glass, Murano Glass

Vintage Royal Blue Opaline Glass Vase by Paolo Venini, "Anni Trenta" series
Located in Bresso, Lombardy
Made in Italy, Murano, 1990s. This vase is made in light blue opaline glass inside and a royal blue opaline glass outside. It features a darker glass base and it's been hand-blown i...
Category

1990s Italian Mid-Century Modern Glass

Materials

Murano Glass, Opaline Glass

Venini by Pierre Cardin, big Murano Glass Sculpture, Egg Shaped, Italian 1960s
Located in Milano, IT
Spinzi is a Milano based creative atelier specialised in furniture design as well as sourcing and trading relevant mid-century collectible design. Check out our storefront and websit...
Category

1960s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Glass

Materials

Glass, Art Glass, Blown Glass, Murano Glass

Set of 4 Venini Italian Glass Red & White Dot Plates by Pierre Cardin
Located in Philadelphia, PA
A very fine set of 4 Venini glass plates. Design attributed to Pierre Cardin. The group comprising 4 thick, square glass plates with rounded corne...
Category

20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Glass

Materials

Glass

Tobia Scarpa Venini Murano "Opal" Series Glass Ivory Color Vase, 1979
Located in Rome, IT
With its unique features and meticulous attention to detail, this object is a testament to Tobia Scarpa's innovative vision and artistic sensibility. The small jar is in ivory opal ...
Category

1970s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Glass

Materials

Murano Glass

Gio Ponti for Venini Old Lady Bottle Model 4492
Located in New York, NY
Gio Ponti for Venini "Old Lady Bottle" with stopper model 4492, Italy, 1990. This lovely bottle has the shape of a female made in glass with two colo...
Category

1990s Italian Mid-Century Modern Glass

Materials

Blown Glass

1950 "Mezza Filigrana" Carlo Scarpa Venini Italian design Murano Glass Bowl
Located in Brescia, IT
White "filigrana" murano glass bowl. Venini, 1950s Perfect condiction.
Category

1950s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Glass

Materials

Murano Glass

Venini Art Glass Bowl 'Diamante' by Paolo Venini, Murano 1930s
Located in Berghuelen, DE
Venini Art Glass Bowl 'Diamante' by Paolo Venini, Murano 1930s A rare Venini art glass bowl of the 'Diamante' series. Heavy transparent glass with a ...
Category

Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Glass

Materials

Art Glass, Murano Glass

Fulvio Bianconi, Harlequin, Venini Murano 'Italy'
Located in Autonomous City Buenos Aires, CABA
Amazing Fulvio Bianconi, Harlequin, Venini Murano 'Italy' The series include 5 different shapes of harlequins, it has been designed by Fulvio Bianconi around 1953 – 1954. A work tha...
Category

1940s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Glass

Materials

Glass, Murano Glass

Venini, Small Mid Century Murano Handkerchief Glass Vase, Italy, circa 1960's
Located in Chatham, ON
Mid Century handkerchief glass vase - twisted yellow canes with copper aventurine and white latticino - rare small size - smooth polished base ...
Category

Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Glass

Materials

Art Glass

Fazzoletto Zanfirico Vase by Fulvio Bianconi for Venini, Venice Murano, 1950s
Located in Berghuelen, DE
Fazzoletto Zanfirico Vase by Fulvio Bianconi for Venini, Venice Murano 1950s A rare Fazzoletto (handkerchief) vase in transparent glass with whit...
Category

Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Glass

Materials

Art Glass, Murano Glass

Carlo Scarpa Green Poliedri Chandelier in Murano Opaline Glass for Venini, 1958
Located in Vicenza, IT
“Poliedri” chandelier designed by Carlo Scarpa and produced by the Italian manufacturer Venini in, 1958. Made of opaline Murano glass. Born in Venice on June 2nd, 1906, Carlo Scarpa began working at a very early age. Only a year after he had first qualified as an architect in 1926, he began working for the Murano glassmakers Cappellin & Co. in a consultative capacity; from 1927, he began to experiment with the Murano glass, and this research not only gave him excellent results here but would also inform his progress for many years to come. Between 1935 and 1937, as he entered his thirties, Carlo Scarpa accepted his first important commission, the renovation of Venice’s Cà Foscari. He adapted the spaces of this stately University building which stands on the banks of the Grand Canal, creating rooms for the Dean’s offices and a new hall for academic ceremonies; Mario Sironi and Mario De Luigi were charged with doing the restoration work on the frescos. After 1945, Carlo Scarpa found himself constantly busy with new commissions, including various furnishings and designs for the renovation of Venice’s Hotel Bauer and designing a tall building in Padua and a residential area in Feltre, which are all worth mention. One of his key works, despite its relatively modest diminished proportions, was the first of many works which were to follow in the nineteen fifties: the [bookshop known as the] Padiglione del Libro, which stands in Venice’s Giardini di Castello and shows clearly Scarpa’s passion for the works of Frank Lloyd Wright. In the years which were to follow, after he had met the American architect, Scarpa repeated similar experiments on other occasions, as can be seen, in particular, in the sketches he drew up in 1953 for villa Zoppas in Conegliano, which show some of his most promising work. However, this work unfortunately never came to fruition. Carlo Scarpa later created three museum layouts to prove pivotal in terms of how twentieth-century museums were to be set up from then on. Between 1955 and 1957, he completed extension work on Treviso’s Gipsoteca Canoviana [the museum that houses Canova’s sculptures] in Possagno, taking a similar experimental approach to the one he used for the Venezuelan Pavilion at [Venice’s] Giardini di Castello which he was building at the same time (1954-56). In Possagno Carlo Scarpa was to create one of his greatest ever works, which inevitably bears comparison with two other museum layouts that he was working on over the same period, those of the Galleria Nazionale di Sicilia, housed in the Palazzo Abatellis in Palermo (1953-55) and at the Castelvecchio in Verona (1957- 1974), all of which were highly acclaimed, adding to his growing fame. Two other buildings, which are beautifully arranged in spatial terms, can be added to this long list of key works that were started and, in some cases, even completed during the nineteen fifties. After winning the Olivetti award for architecture in 1956, Scarpa began work in Venice’s Piazza San Marco on an area destined to house products made by the Industrial manufacturers Ivrea. Over the same period (1959-1963), he also worked on renovation and restoration of the gardens and ground floor of the Fondazione Querini Stampalia in Venice, which many consider being one of his greatest works. While he busied himself working on-site at the Fondazione Querini Stampalia, Carlo Scarpa also began work building a villa in Udine for the Veritti family. To shed some light on the extent to which his work evolved over the years, it may perhaps be useful to compare this work with that of his very last building, villa Ottolenghi Bardolino, which was near to completion at the time of his sudden death in 1978. Upon completion of villa Veritti over the next ten years, without ever letting up on his work on renovation and layouts, Scarpa accepted some highly challenging commissions which were to make the most of his formal skills, working on the Carlo Felice Theatre in Genoa as well as another theatre in Vicenza. Towards the end of this decade, in 1969, Rina Brion commissioned Carlo Scarpa to build the Brion Mausoleum in San Vito d’Altivole (Treviso), a piece he continued to work on right up until the moment of his death. Nevertheless, even though he was totally absorbed by work on this mausoleum, there are plenty of other episodes which can offer some insight into the final years of his career. As work on the San Vito d’Altivole Mausoleum began to lessen from 1973, Carlo Scarpa began work building the new headquarters for the Banca Popolare di Verona. He drew up plans that were surprisingly different from the work he was carrying out at the same time on the villa Ottolenghi. However, the plans Carlo Scarpa drew up, at different times, for a monument in Brescia’s Piazza della Loggia commemorating victims of the terrorist attack on May 28th, 1974, make a sharp contrast to the work he carried out in Verona, almost as if there is a certain hesitation after so many mannered excesses. The same Pietas that informs his designs for the Piazza Della Loggia can also be seen in the presence of the water that flows through the Brion Mausoleum, almost as if to give a concrete manifestation of pity in this twentieth-century work of art. Carlo Scarpa has put together a highly sophisticated collection of structures, occupying the mausoleum’s L-shaped space stretching across both sides of the old San Vito d’Altivole cemetery. A myriad of different forms and an equally large number of different pieces, all of which are separate and yet inextricably linked to form a chain that seems to offer no promise of continuity, rising up out of these are those whose only justification for being there is to bear the warning “si vis vitam, para mortem”, [if you wish to experience life prepare for death] as if to tell a tale that suggests the circle of time, joining together the commemoration of the dead with a celebration of life. At the entrance of the Brion Mausoleum stand the “propylaea” followed by a cloister which ends by a small chapel, with an arcosolium bearing the family sarcophagi, the main pavilion, held in place on broken cast iron supports, stands over a mirror-shaped stretch of water and occupies one end of the family’s burial space. The musical sound of the walkways teamed with the luminosity of these harmoniously blended spaces shows how, in keeping with his strong sense of vision, Carlo Scarpa could make the most of all of his many skills to come up with this truly magnificent space. As well as a great commitment to architectural work, with the many projects which we have already seen punctuating his career, Carlo Scarpa also made many equally important forays into the world of applied arts. Between 1926 and 1931, he worked for the Murano glassmakers Cappellin, later taking what he had learned with him when he went to work for the glassmakers Venini from 1933 until the 1950s. The story of how he came to work on furniture design is different, however, and began with the furniture he designed to replace lost furnishings during his renovation of Cà Foscari. The later mass-produced furniture started differently, given that many pieces were originally one-off designs “made to measure”. Industrial manufacturing using these designs as prototypes came into being thanks to the continuity afforded him by Dino Gavina, who, as well as this, also invited Carlo Scarpa to become president of the company Gavina SpA, later to become SIMON, a company Gavina founded 8 years on, in partnership with Maria Simoncini (whose own name accounts for the choice of company name). Carlo Scarpa and Gavina forged a strong bond in 1968 as they began to put various models of his into production for Simon, such as the “Doge” table, which also formed the basis for the “Sarpi” and “Florian” tables. In the early seventies, other tables that followed included “Valmarana”, “Quatour” and “Orseolo”. While in 1974, they added couch and armchair “Cornaro” to the collection and the “Toledo” bed...
Category

1950s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Glass

Materials

Glass, Murano Glass

Murano Tapio Wirkkala Art Glass bowl "Coreano" green turquoise handblown Venini
Located in EL Waalre, NL
A rare capital “Coreano” Artglass-object, model 504.4 in freeblown applegreen and turquoise glass. Designed in 1966 and handmade by the craftsman of the Venini glassworks on the Isl...
Category

1980s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Glass

Materials

Art Glass, Blown Glass, Cut Glass

Venini Art Glass Vase 'Bolle' by Tapio Wirkkala for Venini, Murano, 1966
Located in Berghuelen, DE
Venini art glass vase 'Bolle' by Tapio Wirkkala for Venini, Murano 1966 A vintage art glass vase of the 'Bolle' series. Thin mouthblown grey and aquamarine glass fused in incalmo technique. Designed by Tapio Wirkkala in 1966 and manufactured by Venini Murano Venice in the 1970s. Venini model number 503.01. Signed with incised signature 'venini italia tw' on the base. In 1921 Paolo Venini and Giacomo Cappellin founded a company that would become world famous. Under the artistic directions of Vittorio Zecchin the Vetri Soffiati Cappellin Venini & C. become the whiz kid of the golden 1920s. Over the decades, countless world-renowned artists like Napoleone Martinuzzi, Carlo Scarpa, Tomaso Buzzi, Fulvio Bianconi, Tuni Zuccheri, Thomas Stearns...
Category

Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Glass

Materials

Art Glass, Murano Glass

Five Turqoise Opalino Bowls by Paolo Venini, Murano circa 1950
Located in London, GB
Five small turquoise opaline hand blown bowls by Paolo Venini (1895-1959) circa 1950 for Venini, opaque glass, acid stamp to each 'Venini Murano Italia'. Dimensons; each height 1 1/...
Category

1950s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Glass

Materials

Blown Glass, Murano Glass, Opaline Glass

Venini Vase 'Fazzoletto Opalino', by Fulvio Bianconi, 1950s
Located in Berghuelen, DE
Venini Vase 'Fazzoletto Opalino', by Fulvio Bianconi 1950s A Fazzoletto vase in opaline and rose glass with clear glass overlay. It was manufactured in the 1950s by Venini, Venice a...
Category

Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Glass

Materials

Art Glass, Murano Glass

Vetro Soffiato Glass Vase by Venini Murano, Ca. 1950s
Located in Berghuelen, DE
Vetro Soffiato Glass Vase by Venini Murano ca. 1950s A 'Vetro Soffiato' amphora glass vase in light-amethyst transparent glass. Manufactured by Venini Murano Venice ca. 1950s. Venini model number 3808. Unsigned. In 1921 Paolo Venini and Giacomo Cappellin founded a company that would become world famous. Under the artistic directions of Vittorio Zecchin the Vetri Soffiati Cappellin Venini & C. become the whiz kid of the golden 1920s. Over the decades, countless world-renowned artists like Napoleone Martinuzzi, Carlo Scarpa, Tomaso Buzzi, Fulvio Bianconi, Tuni Zuccheri, Thomas Stearns...
Category

Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Glass

Materials

Art Glass, Murano Glass

Carlo Scarpa Big “Poliedri” Chandelier in Murano Opaline Glass for Venini, 1958
Located in Vicenza, IT
“Poliedri” chandelier designed by Carlo Scarpa and produced by the Italian manufacturer Venini in, 1958. Made of opaline Murano glass. Born in Venice on June 2nd, 1906, Carlo Scarpa began working at a very early age. Only a year after he had first qualified as an architect in 1926, he began working for the Murano glassmakers Cappellin & Co. in a consultative capacity; from 1927, he began to experiment with the Murano glass, and this research not only gave him excellent results here but would also inform his progress for many years to come. Between 1935 and 1937, as he entered his thirties, Carlo Scarpa accepted his first important commission, the renovation of Venice’s Cà Foscari. He adapted the spaces of this stately University building which stands on the banks of the Grand Canal, creating rooms for the Dean’s offices and a new hall for academic ceremonies; Mario Sironi and Mario De Luigi were charged with doing the restoration work on the frescos. After 1945, Carlo Scarpa found himself constantly busy with new commissions, including various furnishings and designs for the renovation of Venice’s Hotel Bauer and designing a tall building in Padua and a residential area in Feltre, which are all worth mention. One of his key works, despite its relatively modest diminished proportions, was the first of many works which were to follow in the nineteen fifties: the [bookshop known as the] Padiglione del Libro, which stands in Venice’s Giardini di Castello and shows clearly Scarpa’s passion for the works of Frank Lloyd Wright. In the years which were to follow, after he had met the American architect, Scarpa repeated similar experiments on other occasions, as can be seen, in particular, in the sketches he drew up in 1953 for villa Zoppas in Conegliano, which show some of his most promising work. However, this work unfortunately never came to fruition. Carlo Scarpa later created three museum layouts to prove pivotal in terms of how twentieth-century museums were to be set up from then on. Between 1955 and 1957, he completed extension work on Treviso’s Gipsoteca Canoviana [the museum that houses Canova’s sculptures] in Possagno, taking a similar experimental approach to the one he used for the Venezuelan Pavilion at [Venice’s] Giardini di Castello which he was building at the same time (1954-56). In Possagno Carlo Scarpa was to create one of his greatest ever works, which inevitably bears comparison with two other museum layouts that he was working on over the same period, those of the Galleria Nazionale di Sicilia, housed in the Palazzo Abatellis in Palermo (1953-55) and at the Castelvecchio in Verona (1957- 1974), all of which were highly acclaimed, adding to his growing fame. Two other buildings, which are beautifully arranged in spatial terms, can be added to this long list of key works that were started and, in some cases, even completed during the nineteen fifties. After winning the Olivetti award for architecture in 1956, Scarpa began work in Venice’s Piazza San Marco on an area destined to house products made by the Industrial manufacturers Ivrea. Over the same period (1959-1963), he also worked on renovation and restoration of the gardens and ground floor of the Fondazione Querini Stampalia in Venice, which many consider being one of his greatest works. While he busied himself working on-site at the Fondazione Querini Stampalia, Carlo Scarpa also began work building a villa in Udine for the Veritti family. To shed some light on the extent to which his work evolved over the years, it may perhaps be useful to compare this work with that of his very last building, villa Ottolenghi Bardolino, which was near to completion at the time of his sudden death in 1978. Upon completion of villa Veritti over the next ten years, without ever letting up on his work on renovation and layouts, Scarpa accepted some highly challenging commissions which were to make the most of his formal skills, working on the Carlo Felice Theatre in Genoa as well as another theatre in Vicenza. Towards the end of this decade, in 1969, Rina Brion commissioned Carlo Scarpa to build the Brion Mausoleum in San Vito d’Altivole (Treviso), a piece he continued to work on right up until the moment of his death. Nevertheless, even though he was totally absorbed by work on this mausoleum, there are plenty of other episodes which can offer some insight into the final years of his career. As work on the San Vito d’Altivole Mausoleum began to lessen from 1973, Carlo Scarpa began work building the new headquarters for the Banca Popolare di Verona. He drew up plans that were surprisingly different from the work he was carrying out at the same time on the villa Ottolenghi. However, the plans Carlo Scarpa drew up, at different times, for a monument in Brescia’s Piazza della Loggia commemorating victims of the terrorist attack on May 28th, 1974, make a sharp contrast to the work he carried out in Verona, almost as if there is a certain hesitation after so many mannered excesses. The same Pietas that informs his designs for the Piazza Della Loggia can also be seen in the presence of the water that flows through the Brion Mausoleum, almost as if to give a concrete manifestation of pity in this twentieth-century work of art. Carlo Scarpa has put together a highly sophisticated collection of structures, occupying the mausoleum’s L-shaped space stretching across both sides of the old San Vito d’Altivole cemetery. A myriad of different forms and an equally large number of different pieces, all of which are separate and yet inextricably linked to form a chain that seems to offer no promise of continuity, rising up out of these are those whose only justification for being there is to bear the warning “si vis vitam, para mortem”, [if you wish to experience life prepare for death] as if to tell a tale that suggests the circle of time, joining together the commemoration of the dead with a celebration of life. At the entrance of the Brion Mausoleum stand the “propylaea” followed by a cloister which ends by a small chapel, with an arcosolium bearing the family sarcophagi, the main pavilion, held in place on broken cast iron supports, stands over a mirror-shaped stretch of water and occupies one end of the family’s burial space. The musical sound of the walkways teamed with the luminosity of these harmoniously blended spaces shows how, in keeping with his strong sense of vision, Carlo Scarpa could make the most of all of his many skills to come up with this truly magnificent space. As well as a great commitment to architectural work, with the many projects which we have already seen punctuating his career, Carlo Scarpa also made many equally important forays into the world of applied arts. Between 1926 and 1931, he worked for the Murano glassmakers Cappellin, later taking what he had learned with him when he went to work for the glassmakers Venini from 1933 until the 1950s. The story of how he came to work on furniture design is different, however, and began with the furniture he designed to replace lost furnishings during his renovation of Cà Foscari. The later mass-produced furniture started differently, given that many pieces were originally one-off designs “made to measure”. Industrial manufacturing using these designs as prototypes came into being thanks to the continuity afforded him by Dino Gavina, who, as well as this, also invited Carlo Scarpa to become president of the company Gavina SpA, later to become SIMON, a company Gavina founded 8 years on, in partnership with Maria Simoncini (whose own name accounts for the choice of company name). Carlo Scarpa and Gavina forged a strong bond in 1968 as they began to put various models of his into production for Simon, such as the “Doge” table, which also formed the basis for the “Sarpi” and “Florian” tables. In the early seventies, other tables that followed included “Valmarana”, “Quatour” and “Orseolo”. While in 1974, they added couch and armchair “Cornaro” to the collection and the “Toledo” bed...
Category

1950s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Glass

Materials

Glass, Murano Glass

Vintage Murano Art Glass Vase 'Bolle ' by Tapio Wirkkala for Venini
Located in Berghuelen, DE
Vintage Murano Art glass vase 'Bolle' by Tapio Wirkkala for Venini A vintage art glass vase of the 'Bolle' series. Thin mouth blown stra...
Category

Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Glass

Materials

Art Glass, Murano Glass

Venini Ruby Bullicante Bowl by Carlo Scarpa
Located in Riverdale, NY
Venini Bullicante bowl in vibrant ruby orange with gold foil inclusions by Carlo Scarpa circa 1950. Measures: 4" x 4" x 2" high. 1950s Italy.   
Category

1950s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Glass

Materials

Blown Glass

Vintage Green Gold Flecked Sommerso Glass Bonbonnière / Bowl by Venini, Italy
Located in Bresso, Lombardy
Made in Italy, 1940s. This tiny bonbonniere is made in sommerso Murano glass, with gold flakes and few bubbles due to the process of glass blowing. It is a vintage piece, but it can ...
Category

1940s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Glass

Materials

Gold Leaf

Venini Art Glass Vase 'Bolle ' by Tapio Wirkkala for Venini, Murano 1966
Located in Berghuelen, DE
Venini Art glass vase 'Bolle ' by Tapio Wirkkala for Venini, Murano 1966 A vintage art glass vase of the 'Bolle' series. Thin mouthblown straw and applegreen glass fused in incalmo technique. Designed by Tapio Wirkkala in 1966 and manufactured by Venini Murano Venice in 1981. Venini model number 503.02. Signed with incised signature 'venini italia tw 81' on the base. In 1921 Paolo Venini and Giacomo Cappellin founded a company that would become world famous. Under the artistic directions of Vittorio Zecchin the Vetri Soffiati Cappellin Venini & C. become the whiz kid of the golden 1920s. Over the decades, countless world-renowned artists like Napoleone Martinuzzi, Carlo Scarpa, Tomaso Buzzi, Fulvio Bianconi, Tuni Zuccheri, Thomas Stearns...
Category

Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Glass

Materials

Art Glass, Murano Glass

Venini Art Glass Vase 'Bolle ' by Tapio Wirkkala for Venini, Murano
Located in Berghuelen, DE
Venini Art glass vase 'Bolle ' by Tapio Wirkkala for Venini, Murano A vintage art glass vase of the 'Bolle' series. Thin mouthblown grey and amethyst glass fused in incalmo technique. Designed by Tapio Wirkkala in 1966 and manufactured by Venini Murano Venice in 1997. Venini model number 502.02. Signed with incised signature 'venini 97 tw' on the base. In 1921 Paolo Venini and Giacomo Cappellin founded a company that would become world famous. Under the artistic directions of Vittorio Zecchin the Vetri Soffiati Cappellin Venini & C. become the whiz kid of the golden 1920s. Over the decades, countless world-renowned artists like Napoleone Martinuzzi, Carlo Scarpa, Tomaso Buzzi, Fulvio Bianconi, Tuni Zuccheri, Thomas Stearns...
Category

Late 20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Glass

Materials

Art Glass, Murano Glass

Venini Vase 'Fazzoletto Opalino', Venice Murano, 2015
Located in Berghuelen, DE
A Fazzoletto vase in green and light green opaline glass with clear glass overlay. It was manufactured in 2015 by Venini, Venice after a design of Fulvio Bianconi. On the base there ...
Category

Late 20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Glass

Materials

Art Glass

Vintage Acco Vase by Alessandro Mendini for Venini, Murano 1997
Located in Berghuelen, DE
Vintage Acco vase by Alessandro Mendini for Venini, Murano 1997 A vintage art glass vase of the Acco series designed in 1988 by Alessandro Mendini for Venini, Venice. White opaque glass with a colorful overlay in red and a clear glass finish. With incised signature 'venini 97 A. Mendini' on the base and company lable on the body. A great example of the 1980s Italian Memphis Design. In 1921 Paolo Venini and Giacomo Cappellin founded a company that would become world famous. Under the artistic directions of Vittorio Zecchin the Vetri Soffiati Cappellin Venini & C. become the whiz kid of the golden 1920s. Over the decades, countless world-renowned artists like Napoleone Martinuzzi, Carlo Scarpa, Tomaso Buzzi, Fulvio Bianconi, Tuni Zuccheri, Thomas Stearns...
Category

Late 20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Glass

Materials

Art Glass, Murano Glass

Mid-Century Modern Glass Bowl by Venini, Italy
Located in London, GB
Beautiful vintage well sized Murano hand blown glass bowl. The bowl is fashioned using the famous Sommerso technique, creating clear bubbles in champagne or caramel colour with gold flecks. This is most likely the work of the famous Venini glass foundry. This technique has been published in various Venini books. Created in the "a Bollicine...
Category

1970s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Glass

Materials

Blown Glass

Small Dish in Green Glass, Venini Murano, Ca. 1930s
Located in Berghuelen, DE
Small dish in green glass, Venini Murano ca. 1930s A small glass dish in transparent green glass, most probably designed by Carlo Scarpa. Manufacture...
Category

Early 20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Glass

Materials

Art Glass, Murano Glass

Venini Vase 'Fazzoletto Zanfirico Lattimo", Venice Murano 1950s
Located in Berghuelen, DE
A large Fazzoletto (handkerchief) vase in transparent glass with white rod decorations called "Zanfirico Lattimo". Manufactured ca. 1950s by Venini, Venice after a design of Fulvio B...
Category

Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Glass

Materials

Art Glass, Murano Glass

Large Vetro Sommerso Vase by Carlo Scarpa for Venini Murano, circa 1930s
Located in Berghuelen, DE
Large Vetro Sommerso Vase by Carlo Scarpa for Venini Murano, circa 1930s. A large vetro sommerso bollicine vase designed by Carlo Scarpa between 1934 a...
Category

Early 20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Glass

Materials

Art Glass, Murano Glass

Venini Sommersi Oro Vase, Italy, 1993
Located in New York, NY
Laura Diaz de Santillana (b. 1955) for Venini rare Sommersi Oro vase from "Laura" series, Italy, 1993. This elegant hand-blown Murano glass vase is an exquisite blue color with gold ...
Category

1990s Italian Mid-Century Modern Glass

Materials

Art Glass

Venini vase Colletti series 70’s
Located in bari, IT
Colletti series vase in greenish blown glass with two-tone incalmo band decoration designer Alessandro Diaz de Santillana. Venini engraved signature. After graduating in architecture...
Category

1970s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Glass

Materials

Murano Glass

Venini, Mid-Century Latticino Handkerchief Vase, Unsigned, Italy, C.1950
Located in Chatham, ON
VENINI - mid-century studio glass latticino 'handkerchief' vase - striking pink ribbons with copper aventurine edges - unsigned - Italy (Venice) - circa 1950. Excellent vintage co...
Category

Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Glass

Materials

Art Glass

Paolo Venini Pair of Opalino Vases for Venini in Light Grey, Italy 1950s
Located in Milan, IT
Monumental Paolo Venini vase model 3556 for Venini in light grey Opalino glass. The second smaller vase measures Diameter 13 x H 38 cm. Both vases carry the Venini label and are Acid etched Venini Murano Italia...
Category

1950s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Glass

Materials

Murano Glass

Vintage Murano Glass Decorative Item of Cherries by Martinuzzi for Venini, Italy
Located in Bresso, Lombardy
Made in Italy, 1930s. These cherries are made by Napoleone Martinuzzi for Venini in Murano glass. This item might show slight traces of use since it's vintage as a chip on the top t...
Category

1930s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Glass

Materials

Murano Glass

Large Venini Art Glass Vase with Inciso Decoration Paolo Venini, Murano 1956
Located in Berghuelen, DE
Large Venini Art Glass vase with Inciso Decoration Paolo Venini, Murano 1956 A large vintage art glass vase in notte (night) blue pesante glass ...
Category

Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Glass

Materials

Art Glass, Murano Glass

Venini Art Glass Bottle with Fasce Decoration, Murano 1950s
Located in Berghuelen, DE
Venini Art Glass bottle with Fasce decoration, Murano 1950s A large glass bottle in transparent green glass with red stopper and a red "a fascia" ...
Category

Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Glass

Materials

Art Glass, Murano Glass

Venini, MCM Murano Fazzoletto Filigrana Glass Vase / Bowl, Italy, C.1960's
Located in Chatham, ON
VENINI - mid century Murano Fazzoletto Filigrana glass vase - yellow, white and clear canes - rare large size - smooth polished ground pontil mark...
Category

Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Glass

Materials

Art Glass

Tapio Wirkkala Polipo Venini Plate Murano Sculpture, 1990
Located in Paris, IDF
Rare beautiful Tapio Wirkkala “Polipo” plate for Venini, from the serie “Piatti di Tapio” signed and dated Venini TW 90 on the back, made of Murano glass using Incalmo technique. The...
Category

1990s Italian Mid-Century Modern Glass

Materials

Murano Glass

Paolo Venini Murano Signed Blue Inciso Technique Italian Art Glass Flower Vase
Located in Kissimmee, FL
Beautiful vintage Murano hand blown Sommerso blue and peachy color Italian art glass flower vase. Designed by Paolo Venini, circa 1955 for Venini e. Co. The vase has an elegant taper...
Category

1950s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Glass

Materials

Glass, Art Glass, Sommerso, Murano Glass, Blown Glass

Tall Laura de Santillana for Venini Blown Glass Klee Vase 1984
Located in Paris, IDF
Rare Laura de Santillana for Venini blown glass designed in the 1980s, large “Klee” model, signed Venini Italia Laura 84. This beautiful murano piec...
Category

1980s Italian Vintage Mid-Century Modern Glass

Materials

Glass

Mid-century Modern glass for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a broad range of unique Mid-Century Modern glass for sale on 1stDibs. Many of these items were first offered in the 21st Century and Contemporary, but contemporary artisans have continued to produce works inspired by this style. If you’re looking to add vintage glass created in this style to your space, the works available on 1stDibs include serveware, ceramics, silver and glass, decorative objects, lighting and other home furnishings, frequently crafted with glass, art glass and other materials. If you’re shopping for used Mid-Century Modern glass made in a specific country, there are Europe, Italy, and North America pieces for sale on 1stDibs. While there are many designers and brands associated with original glass, popular names associated with this style include Venini, Cenedese, Seguso Vetri d'Arte, and Fratelli Toso. It’s true that these talented designers have at times inspired knockoffs, but our experienced specialists have partnered with only top vetted sellers to offer authentic pieces that come with a buyer protection guarantee. Prices for glass differ depending upon multiple factors, including designer, materials, construction methods, condition and provenance. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $29 and tops out at $68,000 while the average work can sell for $723.

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