Star glass bowl

This is a complex multi-faceted bowl in thick crystal with navy blue and yellow glass melted at the heart. It is a piece that stands out for its optical effects. Alessandro Mandruzzato made it according to an ancient Venetian tradition. The hot working phase of the process, called sommerso, consists of dipping coloured glass into crystal: the material is blown into a mould to roughly define its shape and size. The object is then left to temper slowly in special furnaces for 48 to 72 hours, and finally modelled by hand with tools and powered grinders.