Two Sommerso geode bowls

Notes

Geode bowls earn their name due to their resemblance to geode rocks that have been sliced neatly in two. The geode bowls therefore have a perfectly flat, wide rim and consist of two or more layers of cased glass. They were made by several Italian glass manufacturers from the Venetian island of Murano.

Sommerso, Italian for submerged, is the Murano glassmaking technique of creating two or more layers of contrasting glass without the colours mixing together. It is formed by dipping coloured glass into molten glass of a different colour, before blowing the glass into the required form. The outermost layer is often clear. The technique was originally developed in the 1930's by Carlo Scarpa at Venini & Co.

During the 1950's the Sommerso style became world famous due to the work of Flavio Poli, artistic director of Seguso Vetri d'Arte.