The furnaces never sleep. Steps from Murano’s quiet canals they rage at 1,400 degrees Celsius, guarding 725-year-old secrets: The meticulously measured combinations of sand and precious minerals behind Barovier&Toso’s prismatic glassworks.
Among the oldest houses in the world, Barovier&Toso has shaped Murano glass lighting since the thirteenth century, translating centuries of Venetian craft into chandeliers, sconces, and fixtures collected by museums and design connoisseurs alike. Each piece carries the provenance of a single island and a single family.
Each week, some 3,000 to 4,000 pounds of Partia—precise glass recipes—are melted, blown, twisted and polished here on the Rio dei Vetrai, Venice’s river of glassmakers. It’s a rhythm that has flowed through Barovier&Toso’s workshop since 1295, expanding and cooling over 20 generations with one constant: the emergence of awe-inspiring crystal from the flames.
Renaissance Beginnings
Like most stories, the tale of Barovier&Toso began with being in the right place at precisely the right time. Ideally situated between Central Europe and the Adriatic Sea, the Kingdom of Venice reached its apex during the early Italian Renaissance by establishing itself, arguably, as the Silicon Valley of its era—but with silica. By mastering the complexities of artisanal crafts like glass and Mediterranean waterways, the Venetians’ prowess for technology and luxury goods—and the resulting profits—defined local politics.
Eager to guard their secrets and prevent foreign competition in the glass market, the Venetians created highly specific legislation to regulate glass production. First, they mandated that all glass furnaces—and thus glassmaking workshops—be moved away from central Venice and onto the nearby island of Murano, creating the moniker “Murano glass.” In print, they reasoned the move would prevent potentially devastating fires within the primarily wooden city. In practice, the law isolated glassmakers, making it harder for their techniques and precious Partia to be stolen and replicated outside Venice.
The Venetians simultaneously recognized the need to encourage glassworkers to ensure the lucrative trade remained, so they offered glassworkers near-noble status in the kingdom. In fact, the daughters of glassworkers were even allowed to marry into noble families, inspiring glassworkers to establish multi-generational glassworks.
This was the Venice where young Jacobello Barovier came of age, migrating to Murano and, according to 13th-century documents, establishing himself as a “glass master.”
Crafting Classics, Century-In + Century-Out
Following Jacobello’s lead, each subsequent generation of Baroviers continued tinkering in the workshop, leading to renowned advancements in mouth-blown glassware. Angelo Barovier, the rare glassworker who combined artistry with scientific education, consistently experimented in the workshop, eventually creating what his counterparts considered impossible: perfectly transparent glass.
Known as cristallo, the clear and luminous glass now referred to as “Venetian Crystal,” is as brilliant as leaded crystal but made without lead or arsenic. For centuries, the Barovier family was the only glassware maker allowed to forge cristallo, while Angelo continued to innovate, creating lattimo and chalcedony glass in addition to the famed Barovier wedding chalice.
To this day, every product with the Barovier&Toso stamp is still produced completely by hand using long, hollow metal rods and roughly the same simple tools. Moving like metronomes from furnaces to cooling ovens and molds, each glass master—most of whom apprentice for 20 years—works with an assistant and several apprentices to blow, turn and pull each piece into the perfect form, working without interruption as the molten sand becomes firm and eventually rigid. The impossible twirls and delicate designs of each piece are shaped and pulled with small handheld pliers, hammers and grinders.
Shaping A Renaissance Legacy for the 21st Century
During this era, Giuseppe and his brothers also arguably invented modern Murano glass as we know it today: artistic, elegant pieces defined by their ethereal lightness, whereas traditional glass works had been characterized by weight and practicality.
Expanding on Giuseppe’s enterprising spirit, his nephew Ercole expanded the Barovier legacy into the 20th century. Ercole became sole proprietor of the family glassworks in 1936 and merged it with the Murano firm S.A.I.A.R. Ferro Toso. The combined house took the name Barovier&Toso in 1942.
Shaping A Renaissance Legacy for the 21st Century
Ercole’s reality-distorting masterpieces paved the modern path for Barovier&Toso, who began creating commissions for palaces, museums and luxury designers before retiring in the 1970s.
By transforming perceptions of Murano glass from practicality to fine art, Ercole cemented Barovier&Toso’s timeless appeal. It’s why gazing upward at chandeliers in museums, palaces and luxury boutiques inspires similar wonder: The crystalline glassworks dangling from these peaked ceilings were made by the same family with the same time-honored—and timeless—techniques.
In Conversation with Barovier&Toso
We had the good fortune of catching up with Barovier&Toso’s Chief Commercial Officer, Diego Martinez Dubosc, in an earlier conversation about the brand’s craft, philosophy, and latest chapter.
What is the company's design philosophy/mission statement?
Barovier&Toso’s design philosophy and mission statement has evolved over time, but historically, our approach has been characterized by a commitment to craftsmanship, innovation and timeless beauty. We have strived to combine traditional glassmaking techniques with contemporary design concepts, creating unique and luxurious pieces of glass art.
The company’s mission has been to uphold the legacy of Murano glass and push the boundaries of what is possible with this ancient craft. We have aimed to create objects that are not only visually stunning but also showcase the technical mastery and artistic expression of our artisans.
Our designs often combine exquisite craftsmanship, attention to detail and a commitment to quality, resulting in luxurious and elegant lighting fixtures and glass artworks. Barovier&Toso is known for pushing the boundaries of glass artistry, experimenting with shapes, colors and textures to create unique and distinctive pieces.
What sets a Barovier&Toso piece apart from other Murano glasswork?
The product should inspire emotionally; it should have quality, reflect creativity, beauty. Quality that lasts and is passed on from generation to generation, aesthetics and unique design that creates an emotional connection between the product and the consumer, rarity to create ‘objects of desire,’ symbolism (luxury products and spaces include a high level of symbolism such as charisma, perfection, style) and heritage built on traditions and craftsmanship.
A Barovier&Toso’s creation is a form of art and culture, going beyond the material use of it as a lighting appliance to a style, an ambience and a perceptible emotion. Choosing such a piece of art connotes a deep uncommon sensibility and delightful aesthetic taste.
Creativity, flexibility and know-how attend upon a client that is not satisfied with ready-made and ordinary objects.
What does "Made in Italy" mean to you?
Companies like ours: where all strategic and non-strategic processes are governed internally. We rely on a few external suppliers, only for some materials and minor processes. In short, our supply chain is light and in any case very short, almost zero kilometers. Furthermore, ours is a handcrafted and made-to-measure product, therefore we produce according to orders.
What is the design and manufacturing process for a Barovier&Toso fixture? From start to finish, how long does it usually take to craft a light fixture for the Barovier&Toso team?
Long and meticulous, the process that leads to the creation of a Barovier&Toso work is divided into multiple stages. The glass mass is worked and shaped by expert hands, thanks to the help of a series of work tools. They are tools handed down from generation to generation, who have known Venetian Crystal for centuries. Each of them has a specific function and is essential for re-proposing traditional techniques. The master carries out many processes by hand (freehand) but often the blowing also takes place with the aid of wooden or cast-iron molds or the glass is poured into containment masks for the realization of the glass in plate.
Each chandelier is different from all the others, but to give you an idea, a Taif Chandelier with 12 bulbs is made with 100kg of sand that corresponds to 160kg of molten glass. It takes 3,750 minutes in the furnaces, 900 minutes of grinding and assembling and 130 minutes of quality control and packing.
Has the Barovier style and aesthetic changed over the generations? Is there a hallmark or signature style to the brand's works?
Today, as in the past, Barovier&Toso interprets the tastes of the time by combining the glassmaking tradition of its ancestors with stylistic and technological trends and innovations. Barovier&Toso is not only a company that produces magnificent and luxurious chandeliers, but it is also a place where we still invent, create and test as we did 700 years ago. Innovation can have different meanings: You can innovate in materials, production techniques, shapes, colors, functions….
What makes for good lighting—is there more to it than simply illuminating a space?
Yes, there’s more to it than just lighting a space when it comes to good lighting. Good lighting is not just about the amount of light in a room, but also about the quality, distribution, effect and adaptability of the light.
Lighting, when designed with care, can transform the appearance of a building, emphasizing its distinctive features, creating suggestive atmospheres and enhancing the experience of architectural spaces. Light can influence the perception and interpretation of architecture itself, making it more captivating, expressive and harmonious.
What is next for Barovier & Toso?
We will continue to do what we have always done! Today more than ever, customers are looking for unique pieces and experiences with high added value. There is also a return to simplicity, to the truth of things, to essentiality. A search for history and traditions, for the handmade. And in this “hunt” one can only look to Italy, where countless historical niche brands are improving and expanding their offer, thanks also to the collaboration with famous designers.
Collecting Murano Glass Lighting: What to Know
How can you tell if Murano glass lighting is authentic?
Genuine Murano glass lighting is mouth-blown by hand from Venetian Crystal in the furnaces of Murano, not machine-pressed or produced elsewhere. The defining material, perfected by Angelo Barovier, contains no lead or arsenic—a hallmark that distinguishes true Venetian Crystal from other glass traditions. Provenance matters most: a documented maker and a piece made on the island itself are the surest signs of authenticity.
What sets Barovier&Toso apart from other Murano glass makers?
Barovier&Toso traces a single, documented lineage back to 1295, across more than 20 generations of glass masters—a continuity few makers anywhere can claim. Every piece is still produced entirely by hand, using techniques handed down for over seven centuries. That artistry is held in the world’s leading institutions, including the Victoria & Albert Museum in London and New York’s Corning Museum of Glass.
Is Murano glass lighting a worthwhile investment?
Each Barovier&Toso fixture is made to order and shaped by hand, which gives every piece a rarity that mass-produced lighting cannot match. The house’s one-of-a-kind Primavera works by Ercole Barovier rank among the most valuable Murano glass at auction. One example sold for roughly $360,000 in 2019, and no other glassmaker has replicated the technique. For collectors, the value lies in craftsmanship, provenance, and the enduring appeal of a genuinely singular object.
Where is Barovier&Toso glass made?
Every Venetian Crystal element is made in the company’s own furnaces on Murano, along the Rio dei Vetrai—the Venetian river of glassmakers where the family has worked since 1295. Keeping the entire process on the island preserves both the craft and the “Made in Italy” provenance that define each piece.
