Enamel painting on glass is a decorative technique that is done on a glass object using a mixture of pulverized glass, colored pigments, metal oxides and greasy substances.

It is a very old technique, already in use in Roman times, inherited by the Venetians and attested in Murano since the late 13th century. Coppa Barovier is an iconic work of art made with this technique. It is a glass wedding cup with a very simple but richly decorated shape. On one side two young girls are depicted while riding toward the Fountain of Youth or Love and on the other side, between the busts of the bride and the groom, their bath in the fountain itself is represented. Coppa Barovier, currently on display at the Murano Glass Museum, dates back to 1460-70 and represents the pinnacle of the art of enamel on glass in Murano. A highly successful technique that remained, however, linked to a certain type of decoration, including views of Venice, portraits and reinterpretations of 16th-century Venetian paintings.

The technique was resumed and revolutionized only in the 20th century, by ingenious craftsmen-designers who made it more contemporary. A key figure is Maurice Marinot, a French craftsman who, as the book published by Skira "Maurice Marinot. The glass (1911-1934)" recounts, was a protagonist of its transformation, both technical and of taste. Between the 1910s and the 1920s, Marinot abandoned Art Nouveau experimentation to devote himself to simpler, almost graphic subjects, and rather play at incorporating glass defects, such as bubbles ("verre malfin"), into the decoration. Seen up close, Marinot's glassware also strikes for the thick, flat surface of the decoration, a technique far removed from that of Murano.

We were inspired by Marinot for our enameled glass products, particularly for the Campi collection. In the Campi vases the decoration is reinterpreted with contemporary glazes and more geometric and clean shapes, but mostly using Marinot's technique, which results in a flatter and thicker decoration that looks more to the world of design than to the world of artistic craftsmanship.

The process is long and complex, as always when fire is involved in the processing, because there is no certainty of the result. The glass is decorated at room temperature, then fired in an oven for about eight hours at 800 degrees Celsius (no more: at a higher temperature the object would risk warping or melting), finally cooled again.

Campi collection, and more generally the objects we create for our customers in enameled glass, are made in Murano at Fornace Mian, by a master craftsman skilled in enamel-on-glass decoration.