Cesare Toffolo

Cesare Toffolo was born in 1961 in Murano and comes from a family of renowned master glass-makers. 

At a very young age, he began hanging around his father Fiorino’s workshop and, at only 14, he started to learn how to blow glass. Three years later he was orphaned, but kept on perfecting his skills, and, exceeding all expectations, he introduced techniques never before employed in flame processing of borosilicate glass, such as incalmo, filigree, gilding and more. His professional career is the result of the collaboration with Murano’s most prestigious glass workshops and famous international designers. At the age of 21, he held his first exhibition at Palazzo Ca’ Vendramin Calergi, in Venice. Not yet in his 30s, in 1991, he was invited to teach a course at Pilchuck Glass School in Seattle, and later at the Niijima Glass Art Center in Tokyo, The Studio of Corning Museum of Glass (NY), the Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina, the Toyama Institute of Glass and the Kanazu Forest of Creation Foundation in Japan. Soon, Toffolo became one of the world’s leading glass artists, having his works published in magazines, books and art catalogues.

In 1997 he envisioned and founded Centro Studio Vetro (Centre for Glass Studies), a non-profit association based in Murano, aimed at promoting the art of glass making in Italy and abroad. In 2017 he became a Board member for the American Glass Art Society and, as President of the Murano Committee, he coordinated the G.A.S. Conference in 2018 in Murano. In his atelier, located inside an historical palace on Fondamenta dei Vetrai, in Murano, he is now assisted by his sons Emanuel and Elia. His artworks are showcased in museums, galleries and private collections all over the world.

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