Murano on a Slow Flame

Tradition, vision, and resilience on an island that continues to shape the future

There’s a particular way of walking through the alleys of Murano, unhurried, attentive. An outlook not driven by the next landmark, but guided instead by the silence of the canals, the crisp sound of an oar slicing water, the shifting light that dances on the glass windows of the workshops. Time flows differently here. Murano moves on a slow flame, much like the glass that has been shaped on this island for centuries: alive, ever-changing, untamable.

A Tradition with Its Eyes on the Future

Murano reveals itself not as a postcard image, but as a living workshop of art, where beauty is forged daily by expert hands and a forward-looking vision. Murano is more than just the “island of glass.” It’s a place where tradition is passed down like a mother tongue, where material is shaped by both technique and imagination, where every object tells a story that reaches back to the Middle Ages. In 1291, the Venetian Republic ordered all glass furnaces to be moved here for safety reasons, too many fires threatened the city, and Murano thus became the capital of European glassmaking.

The Legacy of the Furnaces

More than seven centuries later, fewer furnaces remain, but those that do persist with pride and mastery, reinventing glass in bold and unexpected ways. Murano glass is not limited to grand baroque chandeliers or vases gracing hotel lobbies. It’s also wit, experimentation, contemporary vision. You need only step into one of the still-active ateliers to see this firsthand. To stroll through Murano is to step into a suspended world, where every view holds a story. The canals reflect the vivid colors of the houses; time passes slowly, thick as molten glass at the tip of the blowpipe. There’s something deeply human about this craft: the fragility and strength of glass mirror the very substance of life.

A Living, Luminous Present

For those looking for something different from the typical Venetian itinerary, Murano is an invitation to authenticity, not nostalgia for the past, but a present that shines with its own light. Today, Murano is a place where the gaze can wander freely and curiously, discovering beauty in furnaces and workshops where new forms of “glass-making” are explored, weaving together art, design, and environmental ethics. Murano is an island of resistance and reinvention, drawing visionary brands and artists.

Among them, three stand out as emblematic of the island’s evolving direction: Laguna~B, Judi Harvest, and Aventurina Design.

Laguna~B: Where Playfulness, Design, and Sustainability Meet

Everyone in Venice uses the word ‘’goto’’, even first-time visitors may hear it, but few know its origin. ‘’Goti’’ were the glasses traditionally made from random scraps of leftover glass, with no concern for aesthetics. They were used by the glass masters for drinking while working, never meant to leave the furnace. In 1994, Paris-born glass design pioneer Marie Brandolini reimagined these humble pieces, launching the Goto collection, a bold blend of traditional Murano techniques and a fresh, pop-inspired visual language.

In 2016, her son, Marcantonio Brandolini, took over the creative direction of LagunaB. Today, the brand’s identity is built around authenticity, diversity, creativity, and environmental responsibility. Continuing to collaborate with Murano’s master glassmakers, Marcantonio has created new collections that retain the joyful freedom of his mother’s work. In 2023, LagunaB opened Spazio, its first store in Venice, and its environmental commitment took concrete shape with VITAL, an ecological restoration initiative developed in partnership with We Are Here Venice to locally offset the company’s emissions.

Aventurina Design: The Beauty of Memory

Aventurina Design offers one of the most original reinterpretations of Murano’s ancient craftsmanship. Founded by French designer Silvia Finiels, the brand revives hand-blown glass elements from the 1950s to the 1970s, pieces signed by the island’s most renowned glassmakers, from Venini to Barovier & Toso, Salviati to Cenedese. These are then reworked into luminous sculptures with contemporary design.

Each piece is one of a kind, the result of refined design and an ongoing dialogue with Murano artisans, especially the grinders, who precisely drill, polish, and reinterpret the material. These are not simply decorative objects, but true works of art that fuse memory, elegance, and sustainability. As Finiels noted during her exhibition at the Glass Museum, glass is a material that teaches us to look more closely: through it, the past is not nostalgia, but the seed of a new, unmistakable, contemporary language.

Honey Garden: An Artwork That Feeds the Island

Just beyond the center, in Sacca Serenella, there’s a small garden fragrant with lavender, rosemary, and thyme, tucked behind lime-washed walls and a discreet gate. This is the Honey Garden by Judi Harvest, a New York artist who has been working in Venice for over two decades, and who here, quite literally, planted a living artwork. The project stems from a simple idea: in a place defined by fire, there should be a fertile, vegetal counterpoint. Amid the furnaces, Harvest created a garden for bees, symbols of care, interconnection, survival. Her glass sculptures, inspired by hives and honeycombs, blend into the vegetation, while real beehives produce rare and precious Murano honey.

Honey Garden is not just a poetic space, it is a manifesto. A gesture of resistance against neglect, conformity, and forgetfulness. It is also an invitation to rethink our relationship with the lagoon, with the land, and with art. In a word: with time.

A Space to Imagine

It’s no coincidence that Murano, in this era of rediscovered slow and intentional living, is once again drawing the attention of those investing in cultural and environmental heritage.

Today, Murano is a promise, fragile, like all living things, yet powerful, like glass shaped by the breath of skilled hands. To walk its streets is to cross the boundary between what was and what might still be: a creative community, a cultural stronghold, an ecosystem in need of renewal, visible, if you look in the right light.