Venetian glassmakers shattered by downturn
Debt, knock-offs taking a toll on storied artisans
ROME — Daniele Mazzuccato’s life has become as fragile as the famed Murano chandeliers he makes.
The glass-maker has sold his apartment to keep his factory going and now sleeps in the backroom of his foundry on the tiny island of Murano, 1.6 kilometres north of the Italian canal city of Venice. The 47-year-old, who comes from a family of glassmakers, says lack of credit, an economic slump and crisisdriven tax increases are killing the island’s centuries-old traditions.
“We are just waiting to die,” Mazzuccato said as he chain-smoked in his office strewn with invoices and glass ashtrays.
Murano craftsmanship has been passed on from generation to generation. So renowned were the island’s master glassmakers that in the 17th century Louis XIV brought some of them to France to steal their secrets and help adorn the Hall of Mirrors at the Versailles Palace. Murano chandeliers also hang from ceilings of the Pera Palace Hotel in Istanbul, which has played host to the likes of Ernest Hemingway and Alfred Hitchcock and was the last stop of the legendary Orient Express.
Over the years, however, the sparkle of Murano glass has dimmed, squeezed by shrinking demand on the high end and cheap knockoffs on the low end.
In the last 14 years, the number of people employed in the island’s glassware factories has shrunk to about 400 from 2,000, according to the union that represents the sector’s workers. Over the past two years, about 80 per cent of artisans and foundry employees had to temporarily rely on wage-guaranteed layoff plans, said Riccardo Colletti, secretary of the union’s Venice section.
Skyrocketing energy and labour costs, coupled with difficulty getting credit amid Italy’s recession, have made it impossible for entrepreneurs to make a profit, Mazzuccato said. His company’s revenue tumbled to 740,000 euros ($919,000) last year from about 3 million euros in 2008.
The number of people he employs has shrunk to a third of what it was in 2008 and debt has far outstripped sales. He now employs about 10 people, down from 33 in 2008. Half of his staff works only a few days a week. His company has about 1.5 million euros of debt, and has been in the red since 2008, except for one year, he said.
Mazzuccato — who learned his craft in 1982, opened his own factory in 1993 and says he’s the youngest local entrepreneur — fears Murano’s heyday may be behind it.
The island became the world’s glass-making mecca after Venetian authorities forced artisans to move their foundries there in 1291, worried a fire could break out and burn down the city, whose buildings were mostly made of wood at the time.
Today, the once-busy island lies quiet.
Younger entrepreneurs have started converting old factories into hotels to take advantage of the island’s beauty and location near Venice.
“When tourists knock on the door here, it’s because they are looking for a toilet,” said Mazzuccato.
In the 1970s, the island was full of glassmakers. That was before knock-offs from China began flooding the world market and before Europe’s sovereign debt crisis plummeted Italy into its longest recession since the Second World War. Forced to keep its finances in check, the government has few resources for dying industrial districts like Murano.
It also hasn’t helped that much of what passes as Murano glass these days isn’t made on the island.
“About 70 per cent of the glass sold in Venice doesn’t come from Murano,” said Luciano Gambaro, head of an association that promotes the island’s glass products and represents more than 50 craftsmen and businesses.
“The Chinese have become better at imitating mid- to low-level products,” said Rossana Barbini, who owns a glassware shop in Murano. “There’s lots of competition on low-priced products.”
Mazzuccato has had offers to work abroad, including in the Czech Republic, Iran, China and Austria, but has turned them down. Asked when he last thought about leaving the country, he says “last night,” with a smile.
Then, waving to a friend crossing the canal in a small boat, he says, “What would I be without all this?”