Giovanni Nicola
Giovanni Nicola was born in 1968 in Venice. As he turned 12, he started working as a trainee at Giulio Ferro's glass workshop located in Murano, in Sacca Serenella. In the Eighties, he worked with his father Carlo as “serventino” within great Master Mario Badioli's “piazza”.
His turning point came when he joined Archimede Seguso's furnace. Here, he was able to work side by side with the Master up until his death in the Nineties, helping create his most renowned pieces. Thanks to him and his brother Angelo Seguso, Giovanni learned all the techniques for blown and sculpted glass, receiving, at only 22 years of age, the Master's “scagno” - the working seat of the master glass-maker: it was his master’s way of acknowledging his talent, and from then on he became the leader of the “piazza”, the five-member team upon which the furnace's work flow relies. In 2015 he became a part of “Scuola del Vetro Abate Zanetti” (Abate Zanetti's Glass School) as chief master. Today he collaborates with Vetreria Estevan Rossetto 1950, creating exquisite blown and sculpted glass objects. Giovanni Nicola said: “I started when I was very young.
My dad didn't want me to, it's a very hard trade. He saw the passion and talent in me, and after letting me work with him, a master himself, he sent me to the great Archimede Seguso. He told me that if I wanted to grow, I had to learn from the greatest. And I learned so much there, especially the importance of respecting the glass. If you do not respect it, you will not learn to process it and carve out the shape it contains. People used to go to work at the furnace because they were hungry and poor. Now, they can choose. They are not bound to stay in front of the furnace in order to secure a meal for the day. So, only those who are very passionate carry on.”
