Murano getting brittle

If you some bit about Italy, you would know for sure that its much more than pizza and pasta. Apart from the architecture, art, culture, the Vatican, there is also the very expensive but exquisite Murano glass.

Murano is small Italian canal city and the occupants there all make glass. It’s hand-made and the technique of making it, with vibrant colors is what made it a ‘possession’ worldwide.  But sadly like many other things in life, this exquisite art form is getting brittle by the day, developing cracks due to cheap Chinese imitations. That apart, the economic slump in Europe and high taxes could knock off many Murano glass makers into oblivion.

This is a craftsmanship and like all such art forms, is passed down through generations.  The island became the world’s glass-making Mecca after Venetian authorities forced artisans to move their foundries there in 1291, worried a fire could break out and burn down the city, whose buildings were mostly made of wood at the time. But today, according to the FILCTEM-CGIL union, which represents the sector’s workers, over the past 14 years, the number of people employed in the island’s glassware factories has shrunk to about 400 from 2,000.  The Murano factory owners have started converting their factories into hotels, after all for them it is their survival at stake. Sadly Chinese, specialists in making imitations, make these glass forms, in fact it is shocking to know that 70% of glass sold in Venice does not come from Murano.

It’s sad that under the garb of globalization, we are losing out on precious art forms, thanks to cheap Chinese imitations.  And we thought this was happening only in India!