The new Barovier & Toso boutique in Venice combines modern and neoclassical influences in a tribute to artisanal glass production
There’s always a reason to return to Venice. Beyond its labyrinthine streets and picturesque canals, it’s a city steeped in timeless elegance and artistic heritage. Home to artisans and designers alike, it’s also where you will find Barovier & Toso, a paragon of luxury lighting with over 700 years of exceptional glass-making history in Murano.
The brand’s new flagship boutique is located along the illustrious Calle Larga XXII Marzo, a street that Giorgio Armani, Gucci, and Dolce & Gabbana also call home. A stone’s throw from Piazza San Marco, it’s an ideal pit stop on one’s tour of Venetian sights. More than just browsing decorative objects such as vases and table lamps, you’ll also be wowed by seasonal show-stopping, one-of-a-kind Venetian mouth-blown crystal installations.
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You’re in good hands once you step into this Barovier & Toso boutique, nay, art gallery. The brainchild of Nichetto Studio—one of Europe’s most remarkable young design practices in the industry, whose all-star collaborators include Hermès and Byredo—this luminescent wonderland is a sight to behold.
This is the time to totally judge a book by its cover, thanks to Flora & Flutter, a window installation that acknowledges Barovier & Toso’s creative spirit and heritage as a master of handcrafted Venetian glass. A bed of crushed glass forms the “soil” of this enchanting garden, in which glass stems and blooms intertwine, flanked by a smattering of dainty glass butterflies suspended in the air.
“Our goal was to convey that, like the leafy plants that grow from the soil, glass objects sprout from the fertile silica soil,” reveals Studio Nichetto’s design team. “To underscore the materiality of glass, we chose a monochromatic palette, allowing the glass to be the main focus.”
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