Wonderproof
ITContact

Mano a Mano: the young glass bead artisans

Portraits for The Place of Wonders Foundation

Twelve young artisans trained in three years

Portraits of the young artisans of The Place of Wonders Foundation’s Mano a Mano programme, devoted to lampworked glass beads and bead stringing.

Client
Fondazione The Place of Wonders
Sector
Fine crafts
Medium
Photo
Location
Murano, Venice, Italy
Year
2026
Services
Crafts and heritage
Two young artisans at the lampworking bench, among coloured rods and displayed necklaces

The project

Mano a Mano is the training programme through which The Place of Wonders Foundation supports new generations of artisans in the art of Venetian glass beads: lampworking and bead stringing, the craft of the impiraresse. The programme is led by master artisans Alessia Fuga and Marisa Convento.

The Foundation, established in 2022 by the Babini family, owners of The Hospitality Experience hotel collection that includes the Londra Palace Venezia, aims to preserve, enhance and pass on Italian artistic crafts through scholarships, training and collaborations with masters and workshops.

The portraits

The Foundation commissioned us to portray the young artisans, at the bench and against a black backdrop. They are not simply documentary images but fragments of a relationship: the concentration of the work, the precision of the hand, the posture of the body and the presence of those learning to shape the material and, at the same time, their own professional identity. The works made by the scholarship recipients complete the story, bringing face, gesture and object into dialogue.

Each portrait against black is paired with a detail of the work at the flame, as a diptych: on one side the face, on the other the bead that same hand is shaping.

On show

During the 10th Venice Glass Week, in September 2026, the works of the scholarship recipients were shown at the Londra Palace Venezia, in dialogue with the portraits presented at Bottega Cini in the Perle di Luce exhibition.

In three years the programme has trained 12 young artisans, and 75% of them are continuing their careers in glass craftsmanship.

Commissioned by
The Place of Wonders Foundation
Training
Alessia Fuga, Marisa Convento
In collaboration with
CPVV Committee for the Safeguarding of the Art of Venetian Glass Beads
Photography
Mattia Gaido
Portrait against black of a young artisan with a fringe, beside a red bead taking shape in the flame
Portrait against black of a young artisan wearing a glass necklace, beside an amber bead worked in the flame
Portrait against black of a young artisan in a white shirt, beside a blue bead with white dots on the mandrel
Portrait against black of a young artisan with a necklace of coloured beads, beside a cluster of amber beads in the flame
Portrait against black of a young artisan with red bead earrings, beside a white and red bead in the flame
A young artisan with purple glasses working a glass bead in the flame
Portrait of a young artisan, with the flame reflected in her glasses
Three young artisans at work in the lampworked bead workshop
A yellow glass bead taking shape in the torch flame
Portrait of a young artisan in a white coat working a blue bead
A young artisan at her bench under the lamp light
The workbench with glass rods, pliers and protective glasses
Hands decorating a bead in the flame
A glowing bead on the mandrel, seen over the artisan’s shoulder
A young artisan at the lamp, surrounded by coloured glass rods
A ring with glass beads made by a scholarship recipient, on a wooden stand
A silver and glass ring made during the Mano a Mano programme
Hat pins with coloured glass beads made by the young artisans