Carlo Nason (1935–2026, Murano) – Designer Profile
Glass Designer · Lighting Designer · Maestro di Murano
Biography and Origins
Carlo Nason was born in 1935 in Murano, the Venetian island of glass, as the son of glassmaker Vincenzo Nason. The Nason family is one of the oldest glass manufacturing dynasties on the island. His father Vincenzo Nason directed the renowned glass manufactory NasonMoretti and in 1941 founded a second company under the name Vincenzo Nason & C., whose furnace was directly adjacent to the family home. Carlo grew up literally in the midst of glassmaking: as a child he lit the first furnaces alongside his father, and by the age of eleven he was already working next to the maestros at the family furnace.
Nason received decisive aesthetic impulses from Japanese metal vases he saw as a young man at Milanese trade fairs and in the La Rinascente department store chain – in particular the exhibition 'Il Giappone' of 1956. The clean lines and natural colours of these objects shaped his design instinct lastingly: away from the ornamental extravagance of traditional Murano glass, towards pure form and transparency.
Nason lived his entire life in the same house on the lagoon shore in Murano, which he had inhabited for more than eighty years. He was married to Evi Nason; his son Alberto Nason is also active as a designer and actively maintains his father's legacy. Carlo Nason died on 3 May 2026 at his home in Murano at the age of 90 (some sources state 91, as his exact date of birth was not made public). He left behind a life's work of over 1,000 designs.
Early Career and First International Recognition (from 1955)
Nason began his design activity around 1955, at approximately 18 years of age, with vases for the family glassworks V. Nason & C. These first works were included in 1959 in the exhibition 'Glass 1959' at the Corning Museum of Glass in New York – although the pieces were attributed to the family business, all the designs were authored by Carlo. Further early objects entered the collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York.
Within the family glassworks, which specialised in traditionally decorative Murano glass, Nason found little scope for his modern ideas. The decision to break away from the family and design lighting independently marked the beginning of his actual career as a design creator.
Collaboration with A.V. Mazzega, Murano (1965–1980)
The turning point of his career was marked by his collaboration with A.V. Mazzega, one of Murano's leading glass lighting manufacturers. On the initiative of his family friend Gianni Mazzega, Nason began designing for the company in 1965. Mazzega gave him complete creative freedom once the first models achieved commercial success – a freedom he had never had at the family glassworks. During this phase Nason was the sole independent designer in the house.
The collaboration with Mazzega lasted until the early 1980s and produced the luminaires that have made Nason internationally known to this day: the models of the LT series (Lampada da Tavolo), LS series (Lampada a Sospensione) and LP series (Lampada da Parete) are entirely out of production and are traded worldwide at major design auctions.
Among the iconic Mazzega models are: chandelier 'Cascata' (Waterfall, 1960s), an inverted pyramid of individually mouth-blown glass panes on a chrome frame; pendant lamp LS 134 'Medusa'/'Polpo' (1969), four interlocking mouth-blown glass elements; floor lamp LT316, a modular system of stackable glass elements; pendant lamp LS 170, consisting of 312 opal glass hooks; LS 132, iridescent crystal glass with acid polish (an etching process now prohibited, making these pieces unreproducible); as well as numerous further table, wall and ceiling lights. Some installations reached ceiling heights of up to 15 metres.
The Meander System and Kalmar Vienna
In the late 1970s, Nason developed the 'Meander' system for the Austrian firm J.T. Kalmar in Vienna – modular lighting elements with a Greek-pattern cross-section in cast glass. These elements allowed scalable and combinable ceiling installations and were fitted in Viennese palaces and bank buildings. The Kalmar collaboration represents, alongside Mazzega, the most significant industrial partnership of Nason's career.
Further Manufacturers and Interdisciplinary Projects
Parallel to and following the Mazzega era, Nason designed for numerous further Murano glass manufactories and international lighting companies: Vistosi, Carlo Moretti, Livio Seguso, De Majo, I TRE, Murano Due, Firme di Vetro (Salzano), Leucos (Salzano), Selenova, JBS, Linea GB, Lumenform, Made Murano Glass and Seguso. A collaboration also existed with the Belgian lighting manufacturer Axis71; the Axis71 models include 'ALA' and 'LT226 Charlie'. His son Alberto Nason is himself active as a designer for Axis71.
Nason's curiosity was not limited to glass: he designed ski boots for Garmont (Montebelluna), ceramics for Baldelli (Città di Castello) and undertook graphic design work for various companies. As a consultant for the glass division of Casinos Austria in Vienna, he brought expertise to the field of hotel interiors. An enthusiastic photographer, he won several photography competitions in the 1960s and 1970s.
Characteristic of his radical working method: during his career, Nason burned many of his original design sketches – a deliberate act to challenge his own design process and free himself from past solutions. His entire preserved archive has been bequeathed to the Studio del Vetro at the Fondazione Giorgio Cini in Venice.
Glass Techniques and Design Signature
Vetro a piastra (cast glass / plate glass): Nason introduced this technique into lighting design. Glass is poured into metal moulds and, as it cools, takes on an irregular, rippled texture that breaks light, conceals the light source and allows modular scalability.
Vetro pulegoso / 'Vetro nebbia' (bubble glass / fog glass): Glass with trapped air bubbles, which Nason preferred for its evanescent effect. Multi-layered pulegoso elements create a diaphanous layering effect – the colour changes depending on how light falls, 'like looking into deep water', as Nason himself described.
No-longer-reproducible techniques:
Certain models (including LS 132 with iridescent crystal discs) were produced using acid etching techniques that are today prohibited for environmental reasons. These pieces cannot be recreated, which substantially increases their collector value.
Further documented techniques (exhibition catalogue 2025): Incalmo, Sfumato, Sommerso, Variegato, Zigrinato, A fasce, Gomitolo, Mezza filigrana, opal glass, faceted glass.
Rosa Chiesa described Nason aptly at the opening discussion of the Fragile exhibition 2025: 'His lamps have clean, minimalist forms – the signature of a graphic designer (self-taught, with a strong intellectual curiosity) and with an unmistakable Scandinavian reference. The designer experiments and innovates, freeing himself from the established models of Murano craftsmanship.'
Museum Collections
Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, New York (earliest vases from 1959); Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York; Museo del Vetro, Murano (Veneto); as well as further unnamed international museum and private collections. Nason bequeathed his entire personal archive and all design drawings to the Studio del Vetro at the Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Venice.
Exhibitions (Selection)
Triennale di Milano, 2015: Solo exhibition 'I Vetri di Carlo Nason', a tribute by the Triennale Design Museum to the 'Maestro di Murano'.
Fragile Milano, 2 April – 6 June 2025 (Milano Design Week 2025): Retrospective 'Handle with Care. Carlo Nason Glass Designer' with approx. 100 luminaires and objects; opening 2 April 2025, Galerie Fragile, Via Simone D'Orsenigo 27, Milan. Accompanying publication by Silvana Editoriale.
Form Portfolios Studio, Copenhagen, 18–20 June 2025 (3 Days of Design): 'Illuminari: Carlo Nason Son of Murano'. Venue: Badstuustraede 17, 1209 Copenhagen. Photography: Sofie Hvitved. The exhibition took place on the occasion of Nason's 90th birthday; Fragile Milano lent several pieces from the Fragile collection.
Retrospectives and group exhibitions in Paris, Milan and New York over several decades (no complete list documented).
Standard Reference Work 2025
Rosa Chiesa / Alessandro Zannoni (eds.): Handle with Care. Carlo Nason Glass Designer 1959–2020. Silvana Editoriale, Milan 2025. 208 pages, 400 illustrations, 24 x 28 cm. Bilingual Italian / English.
The book was published on the occasion of the exhibition of the same name at Fragile Milano (Milano Design Week 2025) and represents the first scholarly systematisation of Carlo Nason's complete oeuvre. Editor Rosa Chiesa is a design historian; editor Alessandro Zannoni is a designer and head of the NasonMoretti Archive; both teach at the Università IUAV di Venezia. The book organises the work into chapters on Techniques and Manufacturers, documents collaborations with more than a dozen glass manufactories, and illustrates approximately 400 objects from the years 1959–2020. It inaugurates the FRAGILE publishing series at Silvana Editoriale, dedicated to historically significant Italian designers.
Death and Legacy (3 May 2026)
Carlo Nason died on 3 May 2026 at his home in Murano, where he had spent his entire life. His life's work encompasses more than 1,000 documented designs across more than six decades of creative activity.
Mark Masiello, CEO and founder of Form Portfolios, paid tribute: 'We have lost a true master of modernism who pushed the art of Murano glass to new dimensions. He left an incredible legacy, despite having burned many of his original sketches as an act of inspiration to challenge his own design process – he was a true radical. Carlo Nason extracted elements from three generations of glass experience and reassembled them in his original style. He pushed the limits of the material, but in a pure and distilled form, creating subtleties never seen before.'
Belgian lighting company Axis71 paid tribute on LinkedIn to 'a visionary who left a lasting mark on the history of design through his work with glass and light.' Axis71 founder Alberto Nason, the designer's son, maintained the family relationship with the company.
For the vintage market, Nason's death represents an immediate increase in value for authenticated original pieces: supply remains limited, and demand is known to grow with the death of a recognised master.
Auction Results and Market Value
The highest auction record for a single piece to date stands at USD 17,330 (Phillips London, 2022, rare floor lamp). Over 700 entries are documented on Invaluable and over 500 on 1stDibs; prices typically range between EUR 500 and EUR 10,000. Rare large-format sculptural pieces and models produced using now-prohibited etching processes achieve significantly higher prices.
Following Nason's death on 3 May 2026, rising auction prices and increased market activity are to be expected.
Stylistic Classification
Carlo Nason is regarded as the link between the centuries-old Murano glass tradition and the modern design movement of the post-war period. In an environment where Murano glass was primarily associated with ornamental decoration and theatrical colour, he consistently chose the opposite path: transparency, structure, light as the primary medium.
His work can be stylistically situated within the context of Italian Modern (1960s), Space Age Design (1965–1975) and Material Minimalism. The Scandinavian influence – clean geometry, emphasis on the material itself – is unmistakable in his pieces. Surface Magazine described him in 2025 as a 'secret treasure': well known in Italy, yet still to be discovered internationally – an assessment that has gained in relevance since his death.
In the vintage trade, Nason's luminaires are listed under the categories 'Italian Mid-Century Modern', 'Space Age', 'Murano Glass Design' and 'Collectible Design'.
Key Data
Name: Carlo Nason
Born: 1935, Murano, Veneto, Italy
Died: 3 May 2026, Murano (age: 90; some sources state 91)
Family: Son of Vincenzo Nason; wife Evi Nason; son Alberto Nason (designer, Axis71)
Training: Self-taught; working at the family glass furnace from approximately age 11
Principal collaboration: A.V. Mazzega, Murano (1965–1980); J.T. Kalmar Vienna (from the late 1970s)
Further manufacturers:
V. Nason & C., Vistosi, Carlo Moretti, Livio Seguso, De Majo, I TRE, Murano Due, Firme di Vetro, Leucos, Selenova, JBS, Linea GB, Lumenform, Made Murano Glass, Seguso, Axis71
Museums: Corning Museum of Glass (NY), MoMA (NY), Museo del Vetro Murano; archive bequest: Studio del Vetro, Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Venice
Total oeuvre: over 1,000 designs across approx. 60 years
Auction record: USD 17,330 (Phillips London, 2022)
Standard reference: Rosa Chiesa / Alessandro Zannoni (eds.): Handle with Care. Carlo Nason Glass Designer 1959–2020. Silvana Editoriale, Milan 2025
Exhibitions: Triennale Milano 2015; Fragile Milano MDW 2025; Form Portfolios Copenhagen 3DD 2025
Source Coverage by Language
English: Extensive. Primary sources: Palainco interview 2019 (the only in-depth interview), Dezeen exhibition report 2025, Surface Magazine 2025, Archpaper 3DD review 2025, InteriorDaily obituary May 2026, 1stDibs biography, Pamono (EN), Silvana Editoriale (EN), Form Portfolios.
Italian: Extensive, including publications of the highest standing. Primary sources: LUCE Magazine (exhibition report April 2025 + obituary May 2026), Il Giornale dell'Arte (obituary 7 May 2026), Pambianco Design (obituary May 2026), Artribune (Triennale exhibition), Interni Magazine (Triennale), Fragile Milano (IT), Capitolium Art, Modernariato de Nicola.
French: Substantive. Pamono (FR), Paul Bert Serpette, 1stDibs (FR), Emmanuelle Vidal Galerie, Lamp and Co, Futureantiques (FR), Hotel des Ventes de Monte-Carlo (auction texts April/May 2026 with citations from the 2025 standard reference).
German: Moderate. 1stDibs (DE), Whoppah (DE/AT), Piet Jonker (NL, German-speaking sphere).
Spanish: Only translations of 1stDibs content; no independent Spanish-language coverage found.
Dutch / Flemish: Whoppah (NL/BE), Piet Jonker (NL).
Danish / Swedish / Norwegian: No independent Scandinavian-language coverage found. The Copenhagen exhibition (3 Days of Design, June 2025) was reported exclusively in English-language international design media.
Japanese: No Japanese-language coverage found, although Japan is documented as Nason's primary aesthetic inspiration (La Rinascente 'Il Giappone', Milan 1956).
Sources
Primary Sources and Interviews
Palainco – 'In my next life I will be an artist' – the only in-depth interview with Carlo Nason (2019, in English, translated from Italian): https://palainco.com/discover/item/carlo-nason-interview-extraordinary-creator/
Rosa Chiesa / Alessandro Zannoni (eds.): Handle with Care. Carlo Nason Glass Designer 1959–2020. Silvana Editoriale, Milan 2025. 208 pp., 400 illus., 24 x 28 cm. Bilingual IT/EN.
News and Obituaries (2026)
Il Giornale dell'Arte – 'Addio a Carlo Nason, rivoluzionario designer del vetro' (7 May 2026): https://www.ilgiornaledellarte.com/Articolo/Addio-a-Carlo-Nason-rivoluzionario-designer-del-vetro
LUCE Magazine – 'Addio al Maestro del vetro Carlo Nason, il designer che giocava con la luce' (7 May 2026): https://www.luceweb.eu/2026/05/07/addio-al-maestro-del-vetro-carlo-nason-il-designer-che-giocava-con-la-luce/
Pambianco Design – 'Addio a Carlo Nason, maestro del vetro di Murano' (7 May 2026): https://design.pambianconews.com/addio-a-carlo-nason-maestro-del-vetro-di-murano/
Flutteringreyscarf.it – 'E morto a 91 anni Carlo Nason' (6 May 2026): https://www.flutteringreyscarf.it/e-morto-a-91-anni-carlo-nason/
InteriorDaily – 'Italian lighting designer Carlo Nason has passed away' (12 May 2026, EN, incl. Axis71 tribute quote): https://www.interiordaily.com/article/9837225/italian-lighting-designer-carlo-nason-has-passed-away/
Exhibition Reviews 2025
LUCE Magazine – 'Carlo Nason, il designer che gioca con la luce' (April 2025, IT): https://www.luceweb.eu/2025/04/06/carlo-nason-il-designer-che-gioca-con-la-luce/
Fragile Milano – Handle with Care exhibition (EN + IT): https://fragilemilano.com
Silvana Editoriale – Exhibition page (EN): https://en.silvanaeditoriale.it/exhibition/1434/handle-with-care-carlo-nason-glass-designer-fragile-milano
Dezeen – 'Illuminari exhibition spotlights Venetian glass maestro Carlo Nason' (June 2025, EN): https://www.dezeen.com/2025/06/27/illuminari-exhibition-spolights-venetian-glass-maestro-carlo-nason/
Surface Magazine – 'Form Portfolios Brings the Maestro of Murano to 3daysofdesign' (June 2025, EN): https://www.surfacemag.com/articles/carlo-nason-form-portfolios-3daysofdesign/
Architectural Digest/Archpaper – 3 Days of Design Review 2025 (Aug. 2025, EN): https://www.archpaper.com/2025/08/3-days-of-design-showroom-openings-exhibitions-group-shows/
Azure Magazine – 3 Days of Design 2025 Review (Sep. 2025, EN): https://www.azuremagazine.com/article/with-3daysofdesign-copenhagen-is-reinventing-what-a-design-fair-can-be/
English-Language Sources (Selection)
1stDibs – Designer biography (EN): https://www.1stdibs.com/creators/carlo-nason/
Pamono – Designer page (EN): https://www.pamono.com/designers/carlo-nason
Rewire LA: https://rewirela.com/designer/carlo-nason/
Fin de Siecles: https://www.finsdesiecles.com/en/blog/carlo-nason-biography
intOndo (EN): https://www.intondo.com/en/designers/16/carlo-nason
Artnet: https://www.artnet.com/artists/carlo-nason/
MutualArt (auction record USD 17,330 / Phillips London 2022): https://www.mutualart.com/Artist/Carlo-Nason/49C87DF541729F8B
Established & Sons: https://establishedandsons.com/designers/carlo-nason
Form Portfolios: https://www.formportfolios.com/carlo-nason
Le Stanze del Vetro (book details): https://lestanzedelvetro.org/prodotto/carlo-nason-glass-designer-1959-2020/
MuranoNet: https://www.muranonet.com/en-us/blogs/unfold-venice/carlo-nason-mazzega-murano-garmont-baldelli
Italian-Language Sources
Artribune – 'I Vetri di Carlo Nason': https://www.artribune.com/mostre-evento-arte/i-vetri-di-carlo-nason/
Interni Magazine: https://www.internimagazine.it/design/progetti/i-vetri-di-carlo-nason/
Capitolium Art: https://www.capitoliumart.com/it/artista/nason-carlo-1935/xar-538
Modernariato De Nicola: https://www.modernariatodenicola.com/artisti/carlo-nason/
intOndo (IT): https://www.intondo.com/it/designers/16/carlo-nason
NasonMoretti – Centenary book: https://www.nasonmoretti.com/product/28230419/
Liquidarte – Exhibition opening: https://www.liquidarte.it/inaugurazione-della-mostra-handle-with-care-carlo-nason-glass-designer.html
French-Language Sources
Pamono (FR): https://www.pamono.fr/designers/carlo-nason
Paul Bert Serpette: https://www.paulbert-serpette.com/dossiers/auteurs-createurs/nason-carlo-0
1stDibs (FR): https://www.1stdibs.com/fr/creators/carlo-nason/
Emmanuelle Vidal Galerie: https://www.emmanuellevidalgalerie.com/categorie-produit/designers-annees-50-60-70/carlo-nason/
Futureantiques (FR): https://futureantiques.eu/fr/designers/carlo-nason/
Hotel des Ventes de Monte-Carlo – auction texts April/May 2026 (with citations from standard reference)
Auction Houses and Market Databases
Phillips London – auction record USD 17,330 (2022)
Invaluable – over 700 auction entries: https://www.invaluable.com/artist/nason-carlo-phyhdaxrw1/
Artnet: https://www.artnet.com/artists/carlo-nason/
MutualArt: https://www.mutualart.com/Artist/Carlo-Nason/
Aste Boetto SRL – April 2026 auction (multiple lots with citations from standard reference)