A.v.e.m Biography
AVEM (1932 - ) is one of the oldest glassworks in Murano which still continues to be active today, but which ceased its production activity years ago. Their works are among the best examples of Art Nouveau, as far as glass is concerned. It was 1932 when Antonio Ferro and his sons, Egidio Ottone and Galliano Ferro, together with Emilio Nason, decided to found the A.VE.M.(Arte Vetraria Muranese), the glassworks destined to become famous in Italy and abroad. abroad. Vittorio Zecchin designed many of the company's early products. Light lines and gentle shapes had become the main characteristics of objects in that period, as can be seen in the first glasses, paperweights and centerpieces put on the market. The company therefore immediately began to participate in the Venice Biennale and had the ability to evolve constantly and rapidly to adapt to what the tastes of the period might be, using, for example, pulegoso glass and solid glass figures. Starting from 1939, works began to be produced in which glass was used together with metals. Giulio Radi, in that year, became artistic director of the company and began research, in-depth experimentation on the use of metal oxides and the reactions that these could cause in glass. Using murrine, gold, silver and other metals he managed to create products with very simple shapes, capable of highlighting the very material of the work. This very interesting study of his was interrupted when, in 1952, he died prematurely. The period under the artistic direction of Giulio Radi will always be considered one of the most fascinating from an artistic point of view. We cannot talk about A.VE.M. without talking about the famous “flying loops” glass. These iconic products were designed by Giorgio Ferro and then presented at the 1952 Biennale and influenced much of the decorative arts works of the 1950s. In 1955 Galliano Ferro opened his own glass factory and left the A.VE.M. forever. and in those same years, personalities of the caliber of the painter Luigi Scarpa Croce and Anzolo Fuga, already known in the panorama, thanks to his polychrome glass works exhibited at the Biennale, collaborated with the company. He was responsible for the production of large pieces with asymmetrical shapes, abstract decorations, often created thanks to the use of polychrome pastes and murrine combined with milk glass. Fuga's work was often accompanied by the creativity of Luciano Ferro who was responsible for the glass creation of figures linked to commedia dell'arte such as Arlecchino and Pantalone.
