Murano Glass Makers, an Endangered Heritage

Art work by Muriel Balensi

The island of Murano, this precious perfume heritage will sink and these famous glassmakers will disappear if we don't act now.
Methane costs are going from a normal bill of around 11,000 euros to 13,000 euros a month to 60,000 euros in October.
Surging methane prices in Italy are putting glassblowing businesses in the line of fire for financial losses, the Associated Press reported.
The price for the methane that powers the glassblowing ovens has skyrocketed five-fold on the global market. The glass blowers of Murano, who have dozens of furnaces on the lagoon island, must use methane to burn around the clock or the costly crucible inside the ovens will break. Murano glass blowers decades ago transitioned from wood ovens, which created uneven results, to methane, which burns at temperatures high enough to create the delicate crystal clarity that makes their creations so highly prized. And it is the only gas that the glassblowers are permitted to use, by law. They are caught in a global commodities Catch-22.

"People are desperate" said Gianni De Checchi, president of Venice's association of artisans.
"If it continues like this, and we don't find solutions to the sudden and abnormal gas prices, the entire Murano glass sector will be in serious danger."
“No machine can do what we do,” said maestro Davide Cimarosti, 56, who has been working as a glassblower for 42 years.

We need to protect Murano's heritage as it is part of the World Perfume Heritage; this is the mission of our organisation.
Thanks to the commercial connections from the 11th century with Alexandria never having stopped producing since the Roman era, Venice acquired Mastery of Glass. The Italians attempted to manufacture glass in the City of Venice but Dodges and Senators were so afraid of fires that they instructed the transfer of Venetian glassware to a mandatory distance from dwellings. This unachievable restriction due to the smallness and narrowness of available sites gave a monopoly to the island of Murano’s artisans.
The glass trade was so important in the worldwide economy that Venice condemned master glassmakers of the island to isolate them in order to preserve their manufacturing secrets. Anyone leaving the island was sentenced to jail and any divulging of secrets led to the death penalty. 
The inhabitants of Murano owned a golden book to write down the families originating from the island. The girls could marry noble practitioners of Venice and their descendants were noble even if they were glassmakers. 
At the beginning of the 13th century, the Island of Murano led the trade of Venetian glass and the production of pearls and bottles.“ said Creezy Courtoy, International Perfume Foundation Chairman 

For now, artisans are hoping the international market calms by the end of the year, although some analysts believe volatility could persist into the spring. If so, damage to the island’s economy and the individual companies could run deep.
The Rome government has offered relief to Italian families confronting high energy prices but so far nothing substantial to the Murano glassblowers, whose small scale and energy intensity make them particularly vulnerable. 
Beyond economic losses, the islanders fear losing a tradition that has made their island synonymous with artistic excellence.
Already, the sector has scaled back from an industry with thousands of workers in the 1960s and 1970s to a network of mostly small and medium-sized artisanal enterprises employing some 300 glassblowers and struggling to attract young people to toil in workshops where summertime temperatures can reach 60 degrees Celsius (140 degrees Fahrenheit).

“The value of this tradition, this history and this culture is priceless. It goes beyond the financial value of the glass industry in Murano,” said Muriel Balensi, a French glass maker in Murano. “Over 1,000 years of culture can’t stop with a gas issue.” 

​Muriel Balensi will be in Paris for Tous au Parfum, bringing along a magnificent exhibition of art glass creations in provenance of the best Murano Artists. These pieces will be sold in auction during the gala dinner to support Murano's glass makers.
It is not enough! The benefit of Tous au Parfum will be entirely given to the
Murano glass makers!
It is still not enough! We are counting on you to support Murano Glass Makers in joining our event, associating your name, your foundation to protect our precious World Perfume Heritage !