Tagliapietra’s recent body of work
revitalizes a centuries-old glass-making
technique called avventurine (from the
Italian for adventure), which began in
17th-century Murano when a member
of the Miotti family accidentally dropped
some copper filings into a glass batch. The
delicate process of incorporating metal into
liquid glass then cooling it in a low oxygen,
reducing atmosphere as the mineral deposits
clump gingerly together is capricious and
often results in failure. Just to prepare
the material is a feat of alchemy.
