UPDATE 29/09/2014
NOVICA CEO takes onboard our plea. Read all about it here
As many glass enthusiasts around the world know, Murano Glass is neither a style nor a technique, is a denomination of origin; it represents the place where, for a thousand years, Murano Glass art has been passed from generation to generation of glass masters.
In the last 20 years, under the pressure of globalization and numberless attempt of counterfeit, the Murano Glass community felt the need to create an official seal of guarantee, the mark Vetro Artistico® Murano, that only can be applied on pieces made on Murano Island, Venice.
Murano glass come in all colors, styles and techniques and like Old Sheffield Plate or Limoges Porcelains, is used to identify that a particular piece of glass is made in a specific place. In our case it is the peak of a millennial tradition and, whether it is a vase, a chandelier or a paper weight, it represents an unique piece, handcrafted and produced with traditional instruments in the beautiful island of Murano in Venice , Italy.
That is why we were very surprised when some friends on twitter pointed out that NOVICA, a USA fair trade company associated with NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC, was selling glass pieces made in Brazil, under the name of Murano Glass.
We are all for fair trade and we do support indigenous communities and artisans all around the world. After all, seen from abroad, the venetian glass masters of Murano, are a community of indigenous artisans as well, guardians of a millennial tradition. Don’t we deserve the same fair treatment and respect?
Everyday we fight to keep our historical heritage and traditions safe and alive, we fight against counterfeiter, globalization, financial crisis.
Our traditions represent what we are, what define us as women and men of this territory.
It shocked us that a recognized institution like National Geographic could overlook such a sensitive matter, that they couldn’t recognize that exploiting the name of Murano Glass in favor of local Brazilian artisans could endanger other honest hardworking artisans on the other hemisphere.
We want to believe that it all was done in good faith, that maybe NOVICA and NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC didn’t realize the impact that their choice could have on the life of those who defend and carry on their tradition here in Murano.
Maybe they didn’t even know that Murano is not a style or a technique, but a place, where people, live, talk and breath artistic glass since they are in the womb of their mothers.
We ask National Geographic and Novica to do the right thing.
We ask them to remove from their website misleading titles on objects that have directly nothing to do with Murano.
We understand that putting the name Murano on a piece of glass automatically multiply its value to the eyes of the purchase, but we also believe that is misleading for the customers and damaging for the real Murano Glass makers.
We, as craftsmen and entrepreneurs, thrive on competition, we often confront ourselves with other glass artisans from all around the world and we would love to compete fairly with Brazilian glass makers, without them having to exploit our name and our thousand years old tradition.
How would NOVICA and National Geographic feel if we would start producing Brazilian handcrafts here in Murano?
We believe that National Geographic would be infuriated because it is against their values, that include respect and nurturing of local traditional craftsmanship.
National Geographic, please do the right thing.
Maybe you can write “Murano inspired glass” on NOVICA website and place a link where is explained the real tradition of Murano and how come this Brazilian glass makers decided to pay homage to it.
We would be more than happy to give National Geographic exclusive access to our historical archives and glass factories in the effort to show the world how an amazing thousand year tradition born in the famous venetian lagoon could inspire people from all around the world.
We ask our readers to help us reach out to NOVICA and NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC by sharing this article on twitter, facebook and Google plus with the hashtag #MuranoCallsNatGeo and the twitter handle @NatGeo. Together we can save our art.
Thank you
UPDATE 29/09/2014
NOVICA CEO takes onboard our plea. Read all about it here