Pietro & Riccardo Ferro
Glass engraver
Venice, Italy
What the glass reveals
- Pietro and Riccardo have turned traditional glass grinding into an art
- They engrave glass vases with a cold working technique
- Pieces include sculptures, vases and glass guitars
On the Venetian island of Murano, brothers Pietro and Riccardo Ferro learned the technique of glass grinding from their father when they were children. This craft is traditionally considered to be a finishing technique used to smooth and refine glass. “Our father used to work in the grinding department of a furnace, just like his father had, and after school we used to join him at the workshop to help with simple tasks,” they say. Their father started collaborating with artists including Lino Tagliapietra, and when the two brothers reached adulthood, they followed him in this creative direction, launching their own business and workshop. With this shift, Pietro and Riccardo stopped being helpers to the glassblowers and became masters themselves, employing the traditional grinding techniques to engrave their own highly original vases.
Discover their work
INTERVIEW
Pietro: Glass grinding involves the cold working of glass. We use a rotating diamond wheel with water as a coolant, and engrave glass like a sculptor works with marble, by subtraction. We use a variety of wheels in different shapes, choosing each depending on the design we want to obtain.
Riccardo: At the very beginning of the process, when we have our pieces blown in the furnace, we have them multilayered with different colours. When we receive them, only the outermost layer is visible, so it is like working on a blank canvas. Then as we start engraving, we bring the colours to the surface.
Pietro: In terms of style, Riccardo and I are on the same page. An outside observer could hardly tell the difference between our pieces. Our method is the same, too. We look at the glass vase and, without preliminary sketches, we listen to it and try to bring out its soul.
Riccardo: Years ago, I fixed a showpiece guitar for a friend. I saw it as a challenge to build a working guitar made entirely of glass. It took me ten years and many attempts. Working with glass this thin means pushing it to its limits. But in the end I succeeded!
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