Pianon's Venetian Birds

Alessandro Pianon’s distinctive ‘Pulcino’ Murano glass birds were designed for the leading Venetian glass-maker firm Vistosi in the 1960s...

Alessandro Pianon may not be a name that is necessarily household, but the designer and architect has created designs that may prove familiar to the design fanatic. Such design inventions include these iconic bird shaped blown glass sculptures (left). More usually, the birds are offered individually, but more unusually, we are offering the complete set of five birds together as intended by Pianon, making the lot highly desirable.

Born in Venice in 1931, Pianon attended the Architecture School in Venice and was later hired by the Vetreria Vistosi in 1956 to design the company logo. At the same time, he used his skills and love of design to create various collections of glass. In 1962 he had his own design studio and he worked for many companies, including Lumenform.

Estimated at £3000-5000 each, we expect these birds to achieve much interest in our 4th of July Sale.

Scroll below to read more on the history of Vistosi...

Alessandro Pianon’s distinctive ‘Pulcino’ Murano glass birds were designed for the leading Venetian glass-maker firm Vistosi in the 1960s...

A brief history on Vistosi glass...

Vistosi Glass was created in 1946 by Guglielmo Vistosi in Murano, Italy. The simple yet efficacious designs and use of colour became highly sought after and copied. During the 1950s, Vistosi’s nephew Gino together with Alessandro Pianon, visited Swedish and northern European glass factories, taking inspiration and developing a simplistic style of glassware that became typical of Vistosi glass. A particularly lovely production was the set of five Vistosi birds, with inflated and colourful blown glass bodies on thin iron legs. Later in the 1970s and 1980s, the company focused on lights and lamps, many of which were designed by Pianon.

(right: typical 1970s yellow Vistosi design lamp)