Venetian Lanterns: steel structure making of

This is our journey towards Venetian Lanterns making of, which are called “lampioni” in Italian and “baeoni” in Venetian dialect.

Our journey starts in our laboratory, where the real magic happens. We are not talking about Murano glass, we refer instead to the metallic structure, which is called “cage” (“gabbia”, in Italian) where the glass will be blown into.

Imagine sipping a good Italian wine while sitting in the shadow of a typical balcony here in Venice; the sun is going down and the streets slowly light up… Magic is happening. Part of this is possible because of the lanterns. In the past, lanterns were made of iron, but they soon started to rust. Even coating the structure with varnish would be useless, because the high temperatures of the glass, blown into the lanterns, would destroy every type of coating and anti-rust system.

Our lanterns are now made of steel: let’s go see how they are produced in Venice Lido.

Note: The island of Lido is a wonderful place, I believe that the best and most unique feature is its light and the smell of its air: being placed between earth and sea, it smells like salt but it still is sweet as the lagoon. Let’s go back to ourselves and to our lanterns by visiting our mechanical shop.

Here’s the steel coil, where everything starts. The wire is straightened or bended according to the type of lantern we want to create. The parts of our lantern come out of this computerized machine.

Many machines are used to make the final product. This is, for example, one of the machines we use for soldering:

Once the cage is done we proceed by decorating steel. We do that without galvanizing it. This procedure would in fact just add materials that wouldn’t survive the fusion of glass. We developed a different strategy: the electrochemical removal of micro particles. This, together with stainless steel, will keep the structure perfect for many years.

Every lantern is CE and UL certified for US market. Installation is straightforward! Here’s the details for US electrical connection.

All of our lanterns are also made for outside placing and tightness tested. The aluminium poles are varnished by hand in order to make it look antique and fancy.

Below is a roundup of our products, from the classic lanterns to the modern ones we make in Murano glass in collaboration with designers and creatives to offer you always new products of the highest quality.

Discover the collection of classic Venetian lanterns, oppure Outdoor lanterns and street lamps