Timo Sarpaneva

Timo Sarpaneva spent his last years in Murano, Venice, in one of the world’s best glass studios of maestro Pino Signoretto.

Among the last completed works was a collection of Liber Mundi works, sketches of which Sarpaneva presented to Signoretto several years earlier. At the time, the maestro examined the squarelike sketches - and moved them aside without saying a word. To begin with, he chose a more rounded shape, characteristic of glass, from among the drawings.

Years later, the workshop was ready to work on a square shape. The work was done, like all works, as freehand work without moulds. Iride smoke was an unprecedented solution. This created the smoke rings in the piece. Smoke was added layer by layer on top of a growing spherical glass post. The post was shaped to its final shape by flattening and pulling with scissors. When performed against the punty, flattening produced a “dartboard-like” smoke pattern and flattening sideways formed a U-pattern.

The Liber Mundi glass sculpture is an amazing demonstration of the seamless collaboration between the artist and the maestro, where bold experimenting produces previously unseen works.

Marjatta Sarpaneva