Reminiscing about Venice

While I was browsing the web I came across these two videos of Venice that started me reminiscing about Venice and what I great time I had there last year. It really is the city of love. The views are so breathtaking! I am sure you will enjoy the videos as much as I did!

Around Venice

Another video taken around Venice

Interesting Facts about Murano!

Map of Murano, Venice

Murano is the most famous of the Venetian islands. Murano was founded between the 5th and the 7th century. It is a suburb of Venice, Italy and is also known as the island “of the flames”. The island is 1,134 acres (459 hectares) in size.

St Mark's Church

It takes about 10 to 15 minutes to get to Murano from St Mark's Church on the main island of Venice with a vaporetto (water taxi). Murano is made up of 5 small islands in the Laguna Veneta (Lagoon of Venice).

Ponto Longo

There is only one bridge in Murano and it is called the "Ponto Longo". It was built in 1866 out of iron.

Glass furnace

The oldest preserved evidence for the existence of the glass blower dates back to 982 and is found in Venice's archives. Murano experienced major development after 1291, when glass furnaces were moved there from Venice. From the late 13th century it was the center of the Venetian glass industry, which reached a peak in the 16th century and was revived in the 19th century by Antonio Salviati.

Glass factory

Glass blowers were prohibited from emigrating from Venice with the threat of confiscation of their property. Secret glass making recipe books are passed down from fathers to sons in glass making families.

Happy Easter!

Easter is the celebration of the resurrection of Christ. It is the celebration of the mystery that is the basis of the Christian faith.


Easter celebrations began in A.D. 325 when the Nicean Council decided that Easter would be celebrated on the first Sunday after the full moon after the Spring Equinox. Unless the first full moon also rose on a Sunday, in which Easter would be celebrated on the Sunday after that. For over 1500 years we have continued to mark the celebration of Easter based on these calculations.

The Easter Egg is one of the most significant symbols of Easter. There are many modern, vintage and antique Murano glass Easter egg ornaments on the market.  

Murano glass Easter eggs can be solid glass, hollow or cut in half to form a dish or holder.

Since the egg shape is a good one to hold candy and other foods, many manufacturers of glass have made serving dishes in an egg shape for Easter.

Venetian Carnival

According to Venetians and tourists; the Venetian Carnival is a festival not to be missed!

The Venetian Carnival is one of the most ancient, grandest, charming and famous of all Venetian festivals. 

It is a voyage of discovery into a fantastic and mysterious world made of music and theater, where people from all over the world, can experience the traditions of masks and the playing of hide and seek! 

The streets are filled with noise and color as acrobats, jugglers and street artists weave their way between crowds of people in elaborate costumes.

The Venetian Carnival began in the 15th century however the tradition can be traced back to the beginning of the 14th century. It spans over two weeks ending on Shrove Tuesday, the day preceding Ash Wednesday. This year the carnival was from the 11th - 21st February and in 2013 the carnival will be from 2nd - 12th February.

Venetian masks range from simple elegance to the elaborate. The designs are only limited by your imagination!

Fanning Venetian mask

Farfalla Burano Strass Blue Moon Mask

Feathered Mask

 

Elegantly shaped half mask

 

Venetian ball mask

 

Venice, The City of Love

Here are some photos that I took while on holiday in Venice as well as others. Travelling in Venice is like crossing over to a whole new world. A city built on water! It is so different from my home country, South Africa.

  

 Ciao

Claudia

What’s in a name?

I have had quite a few people ask me “Why did you name your company DeVigniDesigns”?

Well this is briefly how DeVigniDesigns was born!

Brainstorming a name for a business was not as easy as I thought. Practically every name we thought of was taken! I wanted a business name that was unusual and had a special meaning. I made a checklist of my business attributes to try and help us. Some of our inspiration came from the following.

Selling jewelry and gifts                         = Design

Handmade, lamp work technique            = Artistic

Imported from Murano, Venice               = Italy

After much ado, my son, Chad thought of de Vigni.

DeVigniDesigns is thus named after Saint Catherine de Vigni, the patron saint of arts, who lived in Bologna, Italy. She was born on September 8, 1413, died on March 9, 1463 in Bologna, Italy due to a serious illness. She became a saint on May 22, 1712 by Pope Clement XI.

So in a nutshell, this is how DeVigniDesigns was born!

Ciao,

Claudia