VeniceStyle

Sand, Fire and Gold, melted and mixed today as centuries ago.

Different times, same ancient magic techniques employed by Roberto Zarotti, glass jewelry-making artist whose skillful hands create through a metamorphosis of nature, unique jewelry pieces to compliment the beauty of today' sophisticated woman.

Roberto Zarotti was born in Venice, Italy on October 28, 1978.

Truly a son of art, Roberto carries on a tradition which began in 1864 with Tersa Gianola-Zarotti and Angela Galagan-Merlo respectively, mothers to Giuseppe Zarotti and Ines Merlo, Roberto's paternal grandparents.

The Lineage:

- Angela Galagan-Merlo, Ines Merlo's mother, handed down to her future generations the secrets and exclusive techniques of glass beading;

- Teresa Gianola-Zarotti, Ines Merlo's mother in law, taught how to work a gold leaf with the glass to Ines;

- Ines Merlo-Zarotti, Roberto's grandmother, found a perfect way to enhance techniques to mix noble metals like gold and silver. She is known to have created the best "Fiorato" glass beads in Venice; ("Fiorato" is a particular type of work applied on a glass bead by working a gold/silver leaf with an embroidery type design in a shape of a flower which covers the whole bead. Today, there are only a very few artisans who know how to work with such technique) Great-grandmothers Teresa and Angela, and "Nonna Ines" are only the precursors of a lineage of glass masters in the Zarotti's Family who continue to work Murano glass knowledgeably and adeptly.

- Carlotta Ossich-Zarotti, started working Murano glass beads over two centuries ago as one of the first glass masters of Venice.

- Elvira Zarotti in the early twenty's is regarded as one of the best perlere of the 20th century ("Perlera" is the Venetian dialectal word for glass bead maker).

- Mario Zarotti is one of the most famous artists of glass beads and figurines in Venice during the fifty's and the sixty's.

- Giovanni Zarotti is known to have owned and operated a small laboratory after the war and through the sixty's, employing seven artisans who were amongst the first ones to use gold/silver leaves while working Murano glass. He participated in one of the first trade shows in the sector in London, UK during the sixty's.

- Umberto Zarotti, Roberto's first uncle, is renowned as one of the best glass-making artists of the latter part of the twentieth century. He is the first Family member who started a distributorship network of Murano glass jewelry throughout the national territory, (Roma, Firnze, Bologna, etc.) as well as abroad.

Although very young, Roberto makes use of the fiamma libera technique, ("free flame") mixing gold and glass with dexterity, capitalizing on high levels of quality to deliver a unique product each time.

His hope: to utilize his knowledge and inspiration in order to create distinctive items which will be appreciated as modern art little masterpieces.