Paperweights in the world: exhibition at the Museum of Glassmaking in Altare

The exhibition “Paperweights in the world” runs until January 31st 2016 at the Museo dell'Arte Vetraria Altarese (Museum of Glassmaking) in Altare, a small town in the Savona province. From Savona, the Cadibona state highway leads into the Bormida River Valley, entering the municipality of Altare through an 18th-century fortress built by Napoleon.

The traditional and renowned glassmaking activities were introduced here around the 11th-12th centuries by Bergeggi's Benedictine monks and utilized the skills of foreign (French and/or Flemish) craftsmen. Up to 1823, the area was regulated by the statutes of the University of Glass Art, a corporation founded in 1495 to safeguard and govern the profession of “master glassmaker”. When the University of Glass was dissolved in 1823, Altare's glassmakers decided to establish the Società Artistico – Vetraria, the first cooperative society in Italy. It had several production lines: mainly glass for the home and daily life, for chemical and pharmaceutical industries, as well as artistic objects.

Paperweights' history begins in 1845 when they appeared in Venice, France and Central Europe; born with the aim to "hold papers" in glassworks, soon they became decorative items in middle class homes.

In the so-called "golden age", 1845-1860, French glassworks produced superior examples that are still at the top of all time production. In the second half of the 1800, US glassmakers, thrilled by the specimens seen in Europe, brought French skilled glass workers to New England, giving birth to a good quality paperweights production. During the same period, several productions flourished in England and Scotland and, at the end of the century, in Belgium, Germany and Bohemia.

Today, paperweights are created by French and Scottish glassworks, by individual glassmakers in the United States and Scotland, creating examples of highest quality.

The Museum of Glassmaking's paperweights exhibition shows examples tracing the historical development from 1845 to the present day, with paperweights of all major glass factories from the past and those in business today.

The exhibits come from the collections of Franco M. Bobbio Pallavicini and Diego Pinasco, while a section is dedicated to the Altare's paperweights production.

Villa Rosa, home of the museum, is a beautiful Art Nouveau building which, after a decade of restoration works, reopened in 2004 to the public as Altare's Museum of Glassmaking. It offers visitors an exhibition of glass works from 1650 to the present day, as well as tools for the craft, supported by new multimedia tools to illustrate all phases of glass making. Additionally, in Villa Rosa's gardens, visitors find an exhibition furnace for the production of blown glass including two blast furnaces, a hardening furnace and several tools. The structure has been operating since 2000, and offers a unique opportunity to observe glassmasters at work.

For more information: www.museodelvetro.org