Mariposa’s glass is highly diverse, and thrives equally well with fine porcelain and silver as with handmade ceramics. What links all our workshops, and keeps the craft alive, is a readiness to improve established techniques, to remake the tradition using new textures and forms. And to remember that no matter how you play with glass to catch the light, you must always respect an individual piece’s function—for no matter how special it looks, if it doesn’t sit naturally in your hand or on the table, it doesn’t work.

Our artisans have passed on the glassblowing tradition through many generations. Famed for their dedication and versatility, their spectacular creations reflect a deep love of the craft.

One example is our bubble glass. It’s made in a cooperative near Florence, whose craftspeople see themselves as master experimenters. Each season they look forward to meeting the challenge of doing something new for us, no matter how difficult. Thanks to their expertise, our bubble glass has a unique balance and an almost elastic feel which is impossible to imitate.

This comes from superior technique allied to a strong aesthetic. They’re constantly making tiny innovations, finding neat mechanical tricks that have large repercussions in the art of glass design. At a crucial moment of the special process, the "gather" of molten glass is brought into contact with bicarbonate of soda. In an immediate chemical reaction with the glass, the soda explodes into little permanent bubbles.

We’re also very proud of our continuing collaboration with renowned garden designer Randy Ouzts. His fanciful ferns are exquisitely etched on classic stemware and barware—even on a lantern that doubles as a vase.

Along with Italy, we’ve sought out designers and artisans from around the world with particular domains of mastery—their own unique textures and colors. For example, an independent Eastern European workshop that specializes in many different types of expert glass crafts our Bijoux in traditional forms, but handpaints each piece with an opalescent color: ruby, topaz, emerald, rose quartz, and opal.