Financial crisis threatens Murano glassmakers

By Ian Simpson

VENICE, Italy (Reuters) - Murano glass has long been prized for its rich colors, beauty and sophistication, but the global financial crisis is pushing the 700-year-old craft close to extinction.

Many orders are on hold, layoffs are rising and some furnaces are cold in a downturn symptomatic of the woes of manufacturers both small and large in Italy, Europe's fourth biggest economy.

Even before the crisis bit last year, the Venetian island was slammed by a strong euro that chased away free-spending Americans and others and by competition from Chinese and other producers.

In the last five years, sales at some companies have dropped by half, and the workforce has shrunk to 1,000 from about 5,000.

The current downturn "threatens the existence of Murano, even though two or three companies could remain," said Davide Camuccio, head of the Filcem-CGIL glass and chemical workers' union in Venice.

"This could be a mortal blow."

Artisans have been making glass on Murano, an island close to Venice in its tranquil lagoon, since the 13th century. Long a key center of European glassmaking, its prized products ranged from chandeliers through jewelry to tableware.

Perhaps the island's most famous technique is the "retortoli," where opaque or white threads form a spiral, especially valued on Venetian goblets.

Murano craftsmen are used to adapting their skills to the taste of each new generation, but solutions to the current crisis cannot be molded in a 2,300-degree C (4,200 F) furnace.

"The situation is really, really disastrous right now. In all the years I've been working, I've never seen anything like this," said Gianfranco Albertini, president of Promovetro, an association grouping about 60 small companies, half the number of 40 years ago.

The days of Americans lining up to buy glass pieces that can cost thousands of euros are long gone. Sales have fallen as much as 15 percent in recent years, and exports were about 250 million to 300 million euros in 2007, he said.

"As of the middle of 2008, it would be much, much lower," he said.

HIGHER MARGINS, NEW MARKETS

Murano is having to shift to higher-margin, one-of-a-kind items and venture into new markets in Asia, Russia and the Middle East where the brand is less known.

Next to roaring furnaces, sparks flew as master glassmaker Simone Cenedese used a board to shape a fiery orange globe into a custom-made sculpture last week. He and two assistants were the only ones working at the row of furnaces.