Featured Videos
Uno Alla Volta Means One At A Time
Join us as we visit with a few of our artisans. Watch them lovingly handcraft each treasure, uno alla volta.
Featured Video: Polish Pottery Jack-O'-Lantern, Boleslawiec, Poland
Watch our Polish Pottery Halloween collectible come to life as our artisans in Boleslawiec, Poland, use hand-carved sponges and fine brushwork to paint witches, pumpkins, spiderwebs, and black cats onto a smiling jack-o'-lantern.
First our artisans pour slip (watered-down clay) into the pumpkin mold. After the clay dries inside the mold, it is opened up and the jack-o'-lantern is removed and fired. Next the pumpkin is painted by hand using hand-carved sponges. Once the paint dries, it is dipped in glaze, so that when it comes out of the kiln the second time, the clay is as smooth and shiny as glass.
Murano Glass Sculptures
Campanella Family, Murano, Italy
Step into the Campanella family's Murano, Italy workshop and watch as one of our master glass artisans transforms molten glass into an elegant millefiori dolphin.
Alchemy: Turning Scientific Glass Into Precious Christmas Trees In Maristoca, Italy
Giovanni's Legacy:
His children, Luigi, Roberto and Monica
In the Veneto, just outside of Venice, one family brings to life the most glorious Christmas trees. In the 1960s, Giovanni Battista was fascinated by the nature of scientific glass. The crystal-clear, lightweight, and incredibly durable material called borosilicate used to create test tubes, pipettes and all kinds of laboratory instruments. He went to Switzerland to learn this trade, and then returned home to create artistic glass treasures. Giovanni's Venetian glass is very different from that found from other artisans in Murano. Though Giovanni's own time on this earth has ended, his children are devoted to keeping his legacy alive.
Today, more than fifty years after the founding of his workshop, his three children, Luigi, Roberto and Monica carry on the tradition. In the workshop in Italy's Veneto (Venice's mainland), they masterfully turn molten glass into this delicate tree. Watch our master artisans use traditional lampworking methods to bring this Venetian glass tree to life.