Carlo Nason and his modernist glass lighting

Prof. Francesco Carelli

Italian designer Carlo Nason was born into a family of expert glassmakers in 1935 in Murano, Venice. His father, Vincenzo Nason, directed the renowned glass business NasonMoretti and opened a second glass business under the name Vincenzo Nason & C in 1941. From an early age, the younger Nason received training in the art of glassblowing, learning about both the properties of the material and the artisanal techniques used in glass molding and decoration.
The very first objects designed by Nason date to 1959 and include in a collection of mold-blown vases produced by V Nason & C. Today, they are held by the Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, New York.

Driven by his passion for design—especially clean, geometric forms—Nason decided in the 1960s to distance himself from his family’s business, which was specialized mainly in very traditional, ornate decorative objects. Nason redirected his focus toward designing glass lighting in a modernist idiom.
Nason’s had intended to produce his early solo designs himself in small batches, but soon his spirit of experimentation and innovation caught the attention of Murano glass lighting manufacturer A. V. Mazzega, and the company invited Nason to collaborate on new collections. The partnership lasted from 1965 until the 1980s and resulted in an array of iconic lighting designs that remain in demand today. Parallel to the collaboration with A. V. Mazzega, Nason also produced designs for other important Murano glass companies, such as De Majo, i-tre, Murano Due , Vistosi, and Firme di Vetro.

Nason continued to create designs in the 1980s and 1990s, but he also took on work as a consultant for Casinos Austria and worked as a photographer. Nason’s works have been exhibited over the decades in a number of art and design museums and galleries in Paris, Milan, and New York. He lives and works in Murano.