The glass-making process.
Photo: Giacomo Bianco
For Marcantonio Brandolini D’Adda, the Art of Glass Making Is Deeply Personal
The designer recently opened his first solo exhibition at London's prestigious David Gill gallery, where his lighting sculptures reflect years of dedicated research and exploration of the craft
Marcantonio Brandolini d’Adda. Photo: Alessandro Trevisan
For young creative Marcantonio Brandolini d’Adda, the art of glass making is second nature. Not only does he live and work in Venice, the center of luxury glass making since the Middle Ages, but his mother, Marie Brandolini, founded her own glassware company, Laguna~B, in 1994, which he took over in 2016. It goes without saying that Venice is at the heart of his practice and creations. And more precisely, the island of Murano.
For years, he completely immersed himself in the history of glass making, the secrets of techniques and recipes, and delved into the pure magic of the glass making process. He took classes and observed the glass masters at close range, which launched him on a journey of material discovery for 20 years. He has sought to understand all the facets of the techniques, looking beyond traditions to work out how to create something new, contemporary, and relevant today. After years of research and exploration, the artist recently opened his first solo exhibition at the prestigious David Gill gallery in London.
Light Sculpture "Totem B," (2025). Photo: Courtesy of David Gill
Light Sculpture "Totem D" (2025). Photo: Courtesy of David Gill
David Gill has been at the forefront of innovative design, collectible decorative arts, painting, and sculpture since 1987. It will come as no surprise that he continues to support and enhance the careers of emerging artists, case in point.
Entitled “Moduli Luminosi,” the exhibition sees Marcantonio showcasing lighting sculptures composed of colorful glass fragments set like gems. He shares, “We started working on this a year ago and it has been an adventure. It is important to understand the process, but it is quite technical.” Suffice to say it involves “cotissi” which are glass rocks, fragments of previously fired glass, and then fusing them to entirely new vessels.
Light Sculpture "Totem K" (2025). Photo: Courtesy of David Gill
Light Sculpture "Totem E," (2025). Photo: Courtesy of David Gill
“I have been working in Murano for more than 20 years. I wanted to add more colors and think about how to fuse the raw pieces with vessels. Without cracking. Let’s create a mechanical vessel,” says Marcantonio. The idea evolved to setting the raw glass rocks to a steel frame. This allowed for much more flexibility, but also the challenge of welding on glass. He adds “each piece has to be welded in place and you have to be precise and quick.”
The results are stunning and beautiful. The standing lights are his totems with a variety of colors, feeling like brushstrokes by Titian, Tiepolo, and Morandi. Each piece is unique and placed individually, rock by rock, taking up to two months for each sculpture. There is also the one standout hanging piece, like a multi-colored rock candy chandelier.
While the artist concedes that it is difficult to find these big chunks of glass, he remains undeterred, adding “you can do anything you want. This is just the beginning.”
Cover: The glass-making process.
Photo: Giacomo Bianco
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