ROBERTO ROSSI
The Facilitator – Laboratorio Stampi Legno

Roberto started working in the field of creating wooden moulds for glass blowing at the age of 12 years. Moulds help to accelerate and standardize an object during the production process. 

He developed a passion choosing the right origin and kind of wood for modelling the right type of mould. His atelier supplied most of the factories on Murano but also had demand coming from France or the USA. 

He speaks of wood as an organic material that needs to be treated in the proper manner to obtain the results desired by the glass blowing industry. For instance, water is of the essence to keep material in good conditions. Especially, when it comes to longevity and repeated exposure to the furnace it differs from iron moulds and has to be treated differently. The connoisseur may recognize the touch and look of the resulting glass object. It will always depend on the aim a maestro is trying to achieve. Even when blowing large quantities of objects of the same sort - like drinking glasses - he may find it easier to handle wooden moulds.

Roberto not only talked about the properties of different types of wood or technical challenges of mould production and its usage but got experience with designers and architects when asked to produce the right type of form. In essence when an architect or designer promotes his design his knowledge and experience with the material is very important - otherwise, things have to be customized accordingly. Only the very experienced designers or architects who used to work with many different materials - like Sottsass or Scarpa for Venini - had arrived at a stage when fully accepted as equals by the maestri.

Recently, Roberto closed his workshop not only because he has reached a certain age but also because the glass blowing industry on Murano is shrinking – big entities have retreated or moved outside, technology is advancing towards more automatization. 

Most importantly the taste for lighting and other objects, especially regarding tableware has changed. As a result, demand for Murano glass has decreased and younger generations do not anymore want to suffer the burden of physically demanding jobs – they are looking elsewhere to earn more money more easily. 

But Roberto still enjoys to work with wood as a material and plans to continue to produce objects for pleasure as his “hobby”.