In 1992 Davide Penso opened his jewellery studio in Murano, Italy, initially he taught himself the technique of lampworking. Only in the subsequent years he has developed a keen interest in learning the history and contemporary diversity of glass beads. In 1994 with the help and experience of sig. Gastone, glass master and future father in law, Davide learned to make mosaic and gold leafed beads; in this way his first collection was born. In 1995 Davide Penso and Anna Gastone married, continuing their design collaboration that had already lasted a year and together they created new jewellery collections in glass. In October of 1997 Davide was invited to participate in a course conducted by Kristina Logan, the highly esteemed American Bead worker. From this experience Davide obtained a new store of creative ideas that were realized in the successive months in two collections that have proved to his strongest collections to date: "Black and White" ("Bianco e Nero") and "Mantles" ("Manti"). The passing of time has further consolidated his technique, yet he continually explores new avenues of creativity, always utilizing simple, clean lines and the inspiration of ethnic jewellery. Numerous and world wide are the galleries that appreciate his current collection, all well as prestigious museums like the Venice's Museo Correr , the Glass Museum of Murano, the San Marco Museum of Japan and Boston's Fine Arts Museum. He has participated in the International Beadexpo in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA. For the past two years Davide has taught private courses in bead making in his Murano studio and is currently a Faculty member of and collaborator with the Scuola del Vetro Abate Zanetti in Murano. Despard Gallery is proud to exhibit Davide Penso's unique jewellery collection expanding his already extensive international reputation.  We are privileged to provide the opportunity within Australia for people to experience the true beauty of Murano’s finest jewellery glass artist.

 

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The 'Zeri' necklace, created by Davide, as show to the left, was inspired by the turn of the millennium.  With simplicity  a key design factor, Davide wanted to capture the essence of traditional bead perfection.  This is portrayed through  circles hand drawn on each bead, each element echoing the spherical form of the numeral, zero.   To create such a beautiful pattern Davide uses the technique of 'Vetta'.  Each individual hand made bead is heated and then painted using a 'stringer', a tool used similar to that of a pencil. The images to the right and below  show Davide finalising the detail on each individual bead.  Such techniques ensure that each bead is truly unique.