VENINI Alessandro Mendini 8/50 Limited Edition Art Glass Simirone Amphora Vase
A amphora vase designed by Alessandro Mendini (1931–2019) for Venini.
This is a very rare art-glass vase designed by the architect Alessandro Mendini for the Venini company, back in 1989. Masterfully hand crafted at the Venini atelier located in the Murano island. This is the Venini Simirone tall vase composed by clear soffiato transparent glass. The large vase Simirone in blown glass intertwined polychrome canes on a base in faceted hand-cut glass block designed by Alessandro Mendini for Venini in circa 1989. From a limited edition of only 50 pieces. The signature and the edition numbers are engraved at the base.
Alessandro Mendini
He was a seminal Italian architect, designer, artist, and journalist who profoundly shaped postmodern and radical design in the 1970s and 80s. Renowned for his ironic, colorful, and multidisciplinary approach, he created iconic pieces like the Proust Armchair and designed major structures like the Groninger Museum. He played an important part in the development of Italian, Postmodern, and Radical design. He also worked, aside from his artistic career, for Casabella, Modo and Domus magazines. The character of his design is marked by what was his strong interest in mixing different cultures and different forms of expression; he created graphics, furniture, interiors, paintings and architecture and also wrote several articles and books. He was renowned as an enthusiastic member of jury in architectural competitions for young designers. He taught at the University of Milan. Mendini was born in Milan. He graduated from Politecnico di Milano in 1959 with a degree in architecture and worked as a designer with Marcello Nizzoli. He was the editor-in-chief of Domus magazine from 1979 to 1985 and changed the landscape of modern design through his quintessential works of postmodernism, such as the Proust Armchair and the Groninger Museum. Just as works of the Renaissance period expressed human values and sensibilities, Mendini contributed to bringing into the heart of design those “values” and “sensibilities” that have been eclipsed by commercialism and functionalism. He collaborated with companies such as Cartier, Gufram, Hermès, Vacheron Constantin, Swarovski, Venini, and Supreme, Alessi, Philips, Swatch, Roche Bobois, Tucano, and Louis Vuitton. From 1989 up until his death in Milan in 2019 he ran his own practice in Milan, the Atelier Mendini, together with his younger brother Francesco Mendini (b. 1939). In 2022, he was inducted into the 2022 MILAN Hall of Fame (FAMEDIO OF MILAN - MONUMENTAL CEMETERY). Previous inductees include opera maestro Giuseppe Verdi, aesthetician and novelist Umberto Eco, Gianni Versace, founder of the luxury fashion house Versace, and world-renowned tenor Luciano Pavarotti.
Country: Murano Venezia, Italy.
Period: Modernist, 1989.
Designer: Alessandro Mendini (1931–2019).
Model: Simirone.
Edition: Number 8 of 50.
Technique: Soffiato clear glass, hand cut glass and fasce spirale. (Monumental blown glass vase with diagonal polychrome canes, base in solid wheel-sculpted glass).
Weight: About 65 pounds, (29.5 Kg.).
Dimensions: Height: 26.78 in (68 cm); Diameter: 15.75 in (40 cm).
Signature: Both parts are signed at the bottom by engraving reading as follows, "A, MENDINI 8/50 VENINI MURANO ITALIA".
Venini
Beginning in the 1930s and throughout the postwar years, Venini & Co. played a leading role in the revival of Italy’s high-end glass industry, pairing innovative modernist designers with the skilled artisans who created extraordinary chandeliers, sconces and other lighting in the centuries-old glass workshops on the Venetian island of Murano. While the company’s co-founder, Paolo Venini (1895–1959), was himself a highly talented glassware designer, his true genius was to invite forward-thinking Italian and international designers to Murano’s hallowed workshops to create Venini pieces — among them Gio Ponti, Massimo Vignelli, Finnish designer Tapio Wirkkala, Thomas Stearns of the United States and Fulvio Bianconi.
Literature: Franco Deboni (a cura di), I vetri Venini. Catalogo 1921-2007, Umberto Allemandi & C. 2007, tav. 341; Rosa Chiesa, Sandro Pezzoli (a cura di), Attravetro. L’arte attraversa il vetro, Marsilio Editore, 2015, p. 55.
Condition: The overall condition of this Venini-Alessandro Mendini vase is excellent. Beside the little normal wear, there is absolutely no damage, cracks or repairs. This vase was carefully inspected to guarantee the condition and authenticity.
INVENTORY REF: D030326RTEM/.5549
