Glass jewellery boxes

These two jewellery boxes in Murano glass are meticulously formed, boasting a sleek design. A metal fastener underlines the shapes. One box is square, in transparent thick crystal with light blue glass in the centre, while the second one is rectangular and has a red colour. Alessandro Mandruzzato made them according to an ancient Venetian tradition. The hot working phase of the process, called sommerso, consists of dipping coloured glass into the 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 is finally modelled by hand with tools and powered grinders.