Alessandro Barbaro

Biography

Italian glass master Alessandro Barbaro was born in Venice.
His professional formation began at the furnace of Fratelli Toso, where he learnt the first techniques in glass working.
When he was still very young, Barbaro went to work at Alfredo Barbini’s furnace in Venice. He found and learnt from the old masters, such as Livio Seguso and Peter Share, the famous architect who contributed to the project for the Olympics games of Atlanta. It was with Alfredo Barbini that Barbaro learnt the techniques of each of these masters that he then applied to his own art.
At a later date, Barbaro moved on to work with the glass artist Luigi Moro, further developing and bringing to the perfection the techniques he had learnt with his previous masters. Here , at the furnace of Vetreria artistica Colleoni, his experience is mingled to that of international renown, such as Max Hamlet and R. Brindisi .
Barbaro has produced very well known and prestigious works, like the colosseum created for the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas, which is made up of three quadrigas of running horses (measures 5 meters by 3) and the real sized lion of St. Mark, commissioned by the region of Veneto and Sofitel, and weighting 20 quintals.
The artist also decorates the interiors of many Venetian hotels, such s the Excelsior Hotel Sheraton in Lido, Europa e Regina, Danieli Hotel Sheraton, Luna Baglioni Hotel, and the Metropole Hotel.
Barbaro’s crystal creations express the mot varied themes, from leaping antelopes to sitting Buddha. Whatever the subject, the artist always gives perfect and direct image that is never beyond interpretation. Colours are always vivid and the smooth glistening surfaces are skilfully “manipulated” to convey an impression of strength or delicacy as the case may be. Strong bulls or dainty exotic birds are studied in every expressive detail, far from being simple static junks of glass.