A Visit from the Maestro

It was a special week and a half in September with a visit from Lino Tagliapietra - one of the greatest Venetian glassblowers of our time. He is 78 years old and still going strong making beautiful blown glass. He has a team of American glassblowers who assist him and do the heavy lifting and turning, but he still does quite a lot of the work himself which was amazing to watch. Brian described his casual ease while working with the glass - an ease he has gained after 66 years of working with it. He began as an apprentice in Murano at 12 years old and eventually was the first to go abroad and "reveal" the Italian secrets. Something that obviously didn't go over well with the Venetians but has been, I think, a great foresight in passing on precious knowledge that is slowly but surely being lost. The international glass community is greatly indebted to this man.

Lino brought his own team, but had Brian do some assisting the whole time he was here. As possibly Brian's biggest glassblowing hero of all time, this was a huge treat for him to work so closely with him. After 18 years of blowing glass, this was the first time he has met Lino and he relished every minute of it. I was able to speak with him a few times and even Hailey got more than a few twinkles out of his eye. I felt a bit awkward one day when she stole the show away from him with an adorable reach out for her daddy who was assisting at the time. Everyone was spellbound by this beautiful baby adoring her father. She is all the beauty of life that an artist attempts to capture even a spark of in his or her work. It's no surprise to me that she could draw attention away from even a great master. She is pure light.