The “incalmo” technique consists of setting up tiers of two different colored parisons in a single piece. Very exacting, this process requires the execution of two separate parisons which are opened, shaped and precisely measured to create identical circumferences. The parisons are then grafted onto each other by two skilled glassblowers who carefully line up the edges to form a perfect suture. This operation can be repeated as necessary to add a third color, “a doppio incalmo”.

This exceptional technique, which demands experienced artisans, first appeared in Venice in the XVIth century. Incalmo is yet another Venetian innovation to spread throughout the European glass world, as illustrated in Emile Gallé’s “vase cornet”( shown below), even if the Venetians have always retained supremacy in incalmo. In the mid XXth century, for example, the glass masters of Venice continued to develop their specialty with superb “con incalmo” vases for Carlo Scarpa, “a doppio incalmo” for Riccardo Licata or Thomas Stearns, as well as for the Finnish designer Tappio Wirkala.

In the 1990’s the Venetian maestro Lino Tagliapietra realized a series of pieces in different colors and sizes called “saturno” which attest to his stunning talent and his perfect mastery of incalmo.

DORIGATO Atilia,”Murano Glass Museum”, Electa, Milan,1986 BAROVIER Marina, BAROVIER MENTASTI Rosa, DORIGATO Attilia, “Il Vetro di Murano alle Biennali” 1895-1972,Leonardo Arte, Milano, 1995 KLEIN Dan, “Artists in Glass”, Mitchell Beazley, Londres, 2001