GLASS BEADS

Murano Island

Murano Island, very small and pretty island located along side of the Murano canal in Venice, Italy is famous for their glass arts.

Though the industry has been shrinking as low-cost beads made mainly in India and China finding its place on the market, Murano Island is still a home to a vast number of glass factories and glassmakers today.

イタリアはヴェネチア本島の北東、マラーニ運河に沿って位置するMurano(ムラノ）島。

とても小さく可愛らしい島です。

ガラス工芸が有名で今でも多くのガラス工房や専門店がひしめきあっています。

ヴェネチアンガラスの正確な起源はいまだ謎に包まれていますが、ヴェネチアがかつて東西貿易の中継地点だった13世紀頃からイスラムのガラス製法が伝えられたと言われています。

技術流出の保護政策として原料や燃料、さらにはガラス職人までも強制的にムラノ島に移し小さい島に工房が密集した結果、技術の切磋琢磨が進み質が高く芸術性に優れた多くの名品が生み出されました。

そして、ムラノ島のトレードビーズはアフリカをはじめ、北米、南米、中東やアジアといった世界中に運ばれていきました。
8割はアフリカ、残り2割が北アメリカやアジアに渡ったそうです。

Glass making in Venice is believed to be originated in 13th century with significant Muslim influence as Venice was a major trading port.

To protect the original Murano glass art and techniques, glassmakers along with the materials and fuels they used to make glasses were forced to move to Murano, which resulted in a great number of glass factories compacted on small islands where people improved and refined each other’s art work.

The trading beads from Murano Island were then transported to Africa, North America, South America, the Middle East, and Asia.
Eighty percent went to Africa, and the remaining twenty percent to North America and Asia.

Murano glass beads

Beads from Murano, with such a long history, were unable to compete with the low-priced mass-produced products from India and China.
Many workshops were closed down.

Even today, there are still some workshops that make glassware and interior decorations using its characteristics. Unfortunately, however, there are no workshops in the same era that make the kind of small glass beads we are looking for.

そんな歴史あるムラノ島ビーズもインドや中国が生み出す低価格の大量生産品に価格競争で勝てず、多くの工房が閉鎖していきます。

今ではそれぞれ特色のあるガラス食器やインテリアなどを作る工房は残っているものの、僕らが探している小さなガラスビーズを作っているコンテリエ会社は残念ながら存在しません。

I have been searching for glass beads that have been passed around the world as trade beads in various places. I have been delighted and saddened by the beads made here in the old days.
The structure, color, size, and pattern of the beads vary depending on the year of manufacture and the place of origin, and some of them are custom-made.

Beads acquired through bartering have various meanings and uses, such as being worn in ethnic ceremonies or used as neck ornaments to be passed down from parent to child.
Even if the beads are the same, they have different personalities depending on the person who strings them, and the local characteristics are exuded in a mysterious way.
I get excited just looking at them!

これまでもトレードビーズとして世界中に渡ったガラスビーズをいろんな場所で探し求め、ここで作られた古い時代のビーズ達に一喜一憂してきました。
製造年代や渡った場所によって構造や発色、大きさや模様も様々で中には別注品もあったりと興味は尽きません。

物々交換により入手されたビーズは民族的に儀式の際に纏ったり、首飾りにして親から子へ大切に伝世したりと意味や使い方もまた様々です。
同じようなビーズでも紐に通す人によってそれぞれ違った個性が出るのに不思議とその土地らしさが滲み出ていたりして、見ているだけでもワクワクしてしまいます。

Even though I already knew that, I was reluctant to give up, so I started from the countless souvenir shops to the many specialty glass stores.
I went back and forth between Murano and the main island, visiting existing factories, closed companies, former workshops, collectors, dealers, and private warehouses. I traveled back and forth between Murano Island and the main island by hand.

I was fortunate enough to find a dead stock.

もうないと分かっていながらも諦めの悪い自分は無数に並ぶ土産物屋からガラスの専門店をはじめ、現存するファクトリーから廃業したカンパニー、工房跡地を訪ね、コレクターやディーラー、個人宅の倉庫まで。
人伝てにムラノ島と本島を行ったり来たり駆け巡り、幸運にも眠ったデッドストックに辿り着きました。