The Chiostro Don Orione hosted Under the Sand, an exhibition of selected pieces of jewellery by the designer and glass artist Michele Burato. Burato is today among the most important Venetian artists working with Murano glass. He first started his career as a collector and dealer known as an expert in his field.
In 1988, he considered this material through a new lense, and started fusing slices of vintage canes he had collected from various Murano furnaces. Burato started using a small household kiln to create flat glass panels embedded with vintage murrine and eventually adapted these methods to three-dimensional forms. Later on, at the Anfora Furnace in Murano, he found the progressive environment he needed to experiment with methods and materials away from the firmly rooted Venetian customs.
Ever since, his work has been internationally exhibited in association with renowned institutions such as the Glass Museum of Venice, The Corning Museum of Glass, and the Museum of Arts & Design of New York.
Burato’s jewels stand out because of their chromatic power and their original shape. The pieces on display were colourful and tribal and sat on the edge between everyday objects and decorative arts.
They perfectly merged with the work of the Brazilian Mameluca, who had a solo show at the same Chiostro Don Orione; next to Mameluca’s showcase, Michele Burato's ideas of design extend to other creative areas, where design merges with craft skills.
Ph. Francesco Allegretto