A 3 Days of Design exhibition showcased the work of glass pioneer Carlo Nason, who rebelled against Murano traditions by favouring pure form and transparency, rather than colour and decoration.
Nason was born into one of Murano’s oldest glassmaking families, V Nason & C, but broke away from convention to explore a more subtle and delicate approach to glass craft.
He played with transparency and iridescence, sometimes adding subtle stripes or delicate bubbles, across a range of rectilinear, curved and irregular volumes.
Some of his most impressive works were unveiled in the exhibition Illuminari: Carlo Nason Son of Murano, which was on show at Form Portfolios‘ studio in Copenhagen as part of 3 Days of Design.
Form Portfolios is a US-based company that specialises in the management of design heritage. After recently discovering Nason’s work, CEO and founder Mark Masiello wanted to share it with a wider audience.
“He’s a glassmaking maestro,” Masiello told Dezeen. “He took three generations of glassmaking experience, extracted different elements and reassembled them in his own way.”
“He pushed the limits of glass, but in a pure form, not a colourful form. He created subtleties,” Masiello said.
Nason produced his first glass pieces for the family business when he was just 18, but it wasn’t until he went to work for a family friend, Gianni Mazzega, that he found freedom to develop his own style.
He created over a thousand works over the course of his career, including designs that can now be found in the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Corning Museum of Glass and the Museum of Glass in Murano.
Form Portfolios’ team visited Nason in Murano to select the works for the exhibition. Now aged 90, he has lived in the same house overlooking the Venetian lagoon for the past 80 years.
“That must have been a major inspiration to him,” said Masiello.
“One of the most remarkable aspects of Carlo’s work is that he often worked in glass that was the same colour, but if you layer it and layer it, the colour changes,” he continued.
“It’s like when you stare into water – when the light hits it and it’s rippling, you get that sense of depth, which I think he captured perfectly in his designs.”
Key pieces include a floor lamp resembling a stack of bricks, all with different levels of transparency, and a pendant featuring three semi-spheres of bubbled glass neatly layered.
Among the more daring pieces are lamp-vase hybrids, including one where a water-filled cube has a ball of light at its centre. Others include bulging lamps akin to jellyfish and a table lamp with an organic ripple texture.
The exhibition comes a year after Form Portfolios staged the exhibition Jens Quistgaard Around The Table, celebrating the legacy of a “world-famous unknown Dane”.
A wider Carlo Nason exhibition was recently presented in Italy, at the Triennale Milano, but Masiello felt it would be special to introduce the designer to the burgeoning design scene in Scandinavia.
“The debut of the Illuminari exhibition is a heartfelt moment for me and my family,” said Alberto Nason, Carlo’s son.
“My father devoted over six decades to perfecting his craft, so receiving this recognition in Copenhagen during 3 Days of Design is a profound honour,” he said.
The photography is by Sofie Hvitved.
Illuminari: Carlo Nason Son of Murano was on show from 18 to 20 June 2025 as part of 3 Days of Design. Visit Dezeen Events Guide for more architecture and design events around the world.
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