Fabio Fornasier

Fabio Fornasier was born in Venice, Italy on the 16th of August 1963. He learned glassmaking in his father Luigi's glassworks where he demonstrated talent for design and an innate ability to transform glass into awe-inspiring art chandeliers.

He became a Master Glassmaker at a very young age, opened his own glassworks on the Venetian island of Murano and specialized in Murano glass lighting , creating refined antique and modern chandeliers that immediately stood out for their innovative design.

Inquisitive by nature and drawn to different inspirations, he taught at many glass and design schools such as the Royal College of Art in London, the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam, the Pilchuck Glass School in Washington DC, the Abate Zanetti Glass School in Murano, and others in France and Denmark.

An exacting aesthete and multi-faceted artist, he took the traditional Venetian artisan techniques, with which he had become intimately familiar, and pushed them to the limit, ultimately experimenting with audacious, innovative shapes.

Fabio's relationship with contemporary art lies behind the creative work that has led to LU Murano: experimenting with creative processes in different fields is an integral part of his background and the continuous evolution of his work. Fornasier has personally taken part in art exhibitions, performances and workshops, either as an artist or performer, alongside the most interesting names on the contemporary art scene, as part of international art and design exhibitions such as the Venice Biennale, Aperto Vetro, Vitraria, the Cheongju Biennale in Korea, Milan Design Week, and in galleries in Italy, Europe, North America and Asia.

The LU Murano chandelier came to life about in 2004 and marked both a culmination and a starting point of Fornasier's new path. It was exhibited for the first time at the international show by Rosa Barovier Mentasti organized by the IVSLA (Veneto Arts and Sciences Institute) held in Palazzo Cavalli-Franchetti, a Venetian palace on the banks of the Grand Canal.

Entirely hand blown and completely transparent, the chandelier is unique and revolutionary in concept yet, at the same time, stands as testimony to the ancient Venetian glass tradition: craftsmanship of the highest level meets contemporary art. Multiplied over the years into countless colours and shapes, LU Murano is Fabio Fornasier's alter-ego: in motion, evolving, unique.

Credits: http://www.lu-murano.it/