Simone Crestani attributes his passion for glass to what he describes as the privilege of growing up near the capital of glass world: Venice. After innumerable visit to the famous glassworks of Venice and having experienced Murano’s renowned glass creations as part of his upbringing, Crestani entered the tradition himself in 2000 under the tutelage of master glassblower Massimo Lunardon. As an apprentice in Lunardon’s workshop, Crestani received a strong foundation in the techniques of manipulation. He spent years experimenting and researching new techniques with an emphasis on flame-working. As Crestani’s confidence in his skills grew, so did his passion. In both his functional and sculptural work, Crestani’s aesthetic tends toward time-honored artistic values: balance, elegance, and grace, this despite the fact that his creations are completely novel an unlike anything in glass world to date. In both the plastic arts and in the world of Italian design, Crestani is regarded as a young luminary with a compelling and diverse body of work. He is represented by galleries in Paris, Milan and New York.
Man has always used natural elements for decorative purposes, often exploiting and modifying the nature to his own taste, with the only intent of owning the beauty. I have always admired with wonder and respect the nature, I believe that it is the greatest expression of beauty, that kind of beauty that satisfies the senses, that kind of beauty that only art can approach. That’s the reason why in my work I take inspiration from natural forms, repurposing them through a decorative key that preserves the elegance and poetry. A contemporary “Cabinet of Curiosity” where nature is respected not defaced, reproducing the essence by fragile and transparent shapes.There is no real reason why I chose glass, may be glass picked me. I have been so lucky to fell in love with it when I was young and to learn well its secrets. Having indeed the control of technique allowed me to use it as medium to develop my thoughts. My works are often of big scale and characterized by high technical difficulty because it is only challenging the matter that I can get through it. So, it’s only with a dedicated process of research, revision and execution, that I try to blow inside my works a little bit of beauty.
Cabinet de Curiositè
