Inspired by the endless variety of the natural world, Italian artist Simone Crestani captures its tiniest details in delicate sculptures of clear glass. He magically breathes and blows into life animals and plants that are light, transparent and stunningly accurate.

“I have always admired with wonder and respect nature,” writes Simone. “I believe that it is the greatest expression of beauty; the kind of beauty that satisfies senses and only art can approach. That’s the reason why in my work I take inspiration from natural forms, repurposing them through a decorative key that preserves the elegance and poetry. A contemporary ‘Cabinet of Curiosity’ where nature is respected not defaced, reproducing the essence by fragile and transparent shapes. Glass picked me, and having the control of technique allowed me to use it as medium to develop my thoughts.”

The sculptor started working with glass at the age of 15 at the Massimo Lunardon glass factory. He opened his own atelier after a 10-year-long apprenticeship. Initially having experimented with the traditional Murano glass, Simone now uses borosilicate glass and applies to it a special technique of flame that he calls “Hollow Sculpture”. This particular way of working allows him to create large-scale intricate objects.

Simone Crestani was born in 1984 in Marostica (in the region of Venice) and is based in Vicenza. He is regularly invited as a visiting artist and instructor by prestigious art academies and glass schools worldwide, among them, Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, Jerusalem and the Corning Museum of Glass, New York.

Links: Website (www.simonecrestani.com) | Facebook (www.facebook.com/ateliercrestani) | Twitter (@crestani_simone)

Images used with permission.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two videos:

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