Venetian glass is something a lot of people admire. This exquisite type of glass has a long and rich history that goes back to the time when it was first introduced in Venice, Italy mainly on the island of Murano. Murano today, is still considered to be one of the places where the best kinds of glasses are made. They have some of the best glassworkers and glass making techniques to this date. The history of Venetian glasses goes back to the 13th century. However, this remains to be a highly debated topic amongst historians. Ever since Constantinople fell under the crusaders and the Ottomans, there has been a significant increase of glassworkers coming to Venice from Byzantine. During this period, Venice has lost its power and along with it, the economy plummeted and so did the sales of Venetian glasses.

Due to this, glassworkers focused a lot and put an excessive amount of hard work to perfect the art of making cristallo or clear glass. The perfect cristallo should appear like rock crystal. In the 16th century, glassmakers have started adding colours to cristallo, they have mastered this along with decolourising glasses. They also started to enamel and gild. Their glassmaking techniques were kept highly confidential and anyone who breaks the confidentiality clause would face severe punishment. They have mastered several techniques which involved the use of stained glass that were turned into different beautiful patterns. This has become the trademark of what will be known as the great Venetian glass making legacy.

At first, moulded glass was only used to bring light into bathhouses, but with the passage of time, the process of glassmaking greatly evolved. The artisans of Murano first the first ones to introduce Venetian glass, the finest amongst the Murano glass, and the unique production of decorative classes then came into existence. Despite the fact that glassmakers were restricted from migrating, a lot of them did and the techniques which were once so highly guarded became known to everyone. As a result, plenty of countries in Europe such as England, The Netherlands, France and Germany started producing their own types of Venetian glasses.

As more countries learned how to make their own Venetian glasses, the competition became tougher and the once highly regarded glassworkers of Venice could no longer keep up with the quality of work. The prestige of Venetian glasses severely declined although they have continuously created more Venetian glasses and experimented on new techniques. Because of their sheer beauty and elegance, Venetian glasses remain to be popular nowadays especially Murano Glass and Venetian Mirror. They have proven to withstand the test of time and the new trends in furniture making still make use of Venetian glasses. Are you looking for Venetian glass furniture to spice up your place? Regal living has a wide range of Venetian glass furniture that could give your home an added antique touch. They have everything from bed side tables to Venetian glass chests, Venetian glass sideboards, Venetian glass drawers and Venetian glass tables.