History

The History of Benvenuto Master Glassmakers

The history of a company is fundamentally a story of people. Though the official brand has been around since the sixties, the personal journey of Benvenuto dates back to the turmoils of the Second World War.

During those years of crisis, the young Walter Benvenuto seized the opportunity of a job in a modest glass-craft shop in Treviso. It was perhaps a mere stroke of luck, but over time became a sign of destiny, since the name Benvenuto and the world of glass were henceforth bound forever indissolubly.

Because glass can be vital, primitive, malleable and extraordinarily fascinating in just the right hands, ceasing to be an inert material and becoming an unexpected expression of form and colour, even a work of art, fusing itself with the life of those who work it and marking out their destiny.

After the war, Walter moved to Venice to join Maffioli, a large company specializing in glass decoration and the ancient art of turning flat glass into mirrors and objects of immense beauty.

While Walter was refining decorative techniques, the country around him began to change. A wind of opportunity was making its way across post-war north-eastern Italy, and Walter felt it was the moment to capitalize on his experience.
Thus, in 1966, La Posa Vetro Rapida was born as a company specializing in the installation of glass in new buildings. After just a few years riding the wave of the building boom, the company had established itself and was flourishing immensely.

Experiment and innovate

In the new workshop, among the craft benches, roamed another rather curious member of the family: Walter’s little son Vittorio, who, seemingly immediately attracted by glass, ran to give his father a hand just as soon as he could.

Glass continued to work its charm on the young Vittorio, who, in 1975, after finishing his studies, devoted himself entirely to it, finding, in its ductile and creative nature, a dimension for his need to seek out new ideas, to experiment and to innovate.

In his research, which looked not only to the future but also to the past, Walter was a precious resource for Vittorio, a guardian of lost knowledge, a guide to the secrets of the trade and the secular techniques of glass-work.

Modern techniques, materials and procedures

Meanwhile, due to the genius of international designers, decorated glass was coming back into fashion. Vittorio and Walter felt, once again, the scent of opportunity and the desire to do something new.

Walter revived his experience accumulated over the years as a glass decorator, which Vittorio re-elaborated with modern techniques, reinterpreting, with new materials and procedures, the all but forgotten work methods.

Success was immediate, and a permanent exhibition of new works was established in Treviso, giving rise to requests from all over the world.

Over time, the requests evolved, together with customers and working methods, and, finally, the name evolved too into BENVENUTO Mastri Vetrai, or ‘master glassmakers’.