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Tomaso Buzzi

Italian, 1900-1981

Architect, urban planner, glass, furniture and landscape designer, and interior decorator — Tomaso Buzzi was a 20th-century renaissance man. Buzzi, along with his frequent collaborator Gio Ponti, led Italy’s Novecento Milanese movement of the 1920s and ‘30s — an approximate equivalent to France’s Art Deco movement. While Buzzi is prized for chairs, tables and other furnishings that modernized the majestic lines of 18th-century designs, he is best known for the remarkable, jewel-toned glassware he produced in a two-year stint as the artistic director of the Venini glassworks on the Venetian island of Murano.

     Buzzi was born in 1900 in the town of Sondrio in the Lombardy region of northern Italy. He studied at the Milan Polytechnic, and soon after he graduated joined a lively Milanese decorative arts scene. In 1927, he and Ponti joined fellow designers Paolo Venini and Michele Marelli to form a design collaborative called Il Labirinto (the Labyrinth), Italy’s answer to the Wiener Werkstätte. In 1932, when Venini's glass company lost the design services of the sculptor Napoleone Martinuzzi, who left to start his own factory, he turned to Buzzi. The young architect’s careful study of lighting design and a love for experimentation yielded major innovations in Murano glass fixtures. The forms of his wares were inspired by sources from antiquity as diverse as Persian urns and animal-shaped Etruscan jugs. Buzzi developed a complex glass-layering method that produced deep, glowing pastel colors that ran from pink to peach, to sea-green and slate blue.

     Buzzi furniture has a noteworthy elegance and nobility. Delicate chairs with arrow-shaped backs and elaborate burled wood armoires are typical of his aesthetic, and would add a sophisticated note to any room, modern or traditional. And an exemplary piece of Buzzi’s vibrant, lustrous glassware would merit a place of honor in every design collection.

Average Sold Price
$15,409
Styles
Mid-Century Modern
Art Deco
Materials
Glass
Murano Glass
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Cleto Munari
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Vintage Green Cased Alga Glass Vase with Gold Leaf by Tomaso Buzzi for Venini
Vintage Green Cased Alga Glass Vase with Gold Leaf by Tomaso Buzzi for Venini

Vintage Green Cased Alga Glass Vase with Gold Leaf by Tomaso Buzzi for Venini

$3,265

H 5.32 in Dm 4.73 in

Vintage Green Cased Alga Glass Vase with Gold Leaf by Tomaso Buzzi for Venini

By Tomaso Buzzi, Venini

Located in Bresso, Lombardy

Made in Italy, Murano, 1930s. Between 1932 and 1933 the Milanese architect Tomaso Buzzi, a spirited protagonist of the Milan “neoclassicist” movement, a friend and associate of Gio Ponti, and a partner of Il Labirinto, established a fruitful collaboration with the Venini glassware company, which would continue, albeit episodically, in later years. The architect’s creative contribution was evident both in the glass forms and in their innovative manufacturing technique. When Buzzi arrived at the Venini company in Murano, in 1932, he brought with him a remarkable cultural baggage and a thorough knowledge of ancient art, particularly the Etruscan period...

Category

1930s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Tomaso Buzzi

Materials

Gold Leaf

VENINI rare vase Aurati Red & Gold Murano Glass, Signed 2006, handmade in Italy
VENINI rare vase Aurati Red & Gold Murano Glass, Signed 2006, handmade in Italy

VENINI rare vase Aurati Red & Gold Murano Glass, Signed 2006, handmade in Italy

$1,154

H 16.54 in Dm 7.88 in

VENINI rare vase Aurati Red & Gold Murano Glass, Signed 2006, handmade in Italy

By Tomaso Buzzi, Venini

Located in Venezia, IT

Venini Aurati vase in Red Murano Glass, model 706.50, produced in 2006 and accompanied by its original Venini box and paperwork. A refined reissue of a historic Venini design, this ...

Category

Early 2000s Italian Mid-Century Modern Tomaso Buzzi

Materials

Blown Glass, Murano Glass

Chandelier by Tomaso Buzzi for Venini
Chandelier by Tomaso Buzzi for Venini

Chandelier by Tomaso Buzzi for Venini

$28,200

H 55 in Dm 21 in

Chandelier by Tomaso Buzzi for Venini

By Venini, Tomaso Buzzi

Located in Los Angeles, CA

Chandelier by Tomaso Buzzi for Venini. Designed and manufactured in Italy, circa the 1940s. An extremely striking elegantly crafted chandelier comprising of multiple pressed glass in...

Category

1940s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Tomaso Buzzi

Materials

Brass

Murano Glass Chandelier by Tomaso Buzzi for Venini, Italy, 1930s
Murano Glass Chandelier by Tomaso Buzzi for Venini, Italy, 1930s

Murano Glass Chandelier by Tomaso Buzzi for Venini, Italy, 1930s

$14,770

H 47.25 in Dm 17.72 in

Murano Glass Chandelier by Tomaso Buzzi for Venini, Italy, 1930s

By Venini, Tomaso Buzzi

Located in Nicolosi, IT

Elegant Murano glass chandelier attributed to Tomaso Buzzi for Venini, Italy, 1930s. The design is centered around a slender vertical structure enriched with sculptural blown-glass e...

Category

1930s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Tomaso Buzzi

Materials

Brass

Rare Venini Art Glass Bowl in Light Blue and Lattimo Glass
Rare Venini Art Glass Bowl in Light Blue and Lattimo Glass

Rare Venini Art Glass Bowl in Light Blue and Lattimo Glass

$1,545

H 2.96 in W 9.45 in D 6.7 in

Rare Venini Art Glass Bowl in Light Blue and Lattimo Glass

By Tomaso Buzzi, Venini

Located in Berghuelen, DE

Rare Venini Art Glass Bowl in Light Blue and Lattimo Glass A vintage Venini bowl made of thin light blue and lattimo glass. Probably designed by Tomaso Buzzi in the 1930s. Signed o...

Category

1930s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Tomaso Buzzi

Materials

Art Glass

Gio Ponti Tomaso Buzzi Sofa
Gio Ponti Tomaso Buzzi Sofa

Gio Ponti Tomaso Buzzi Sofa

$7,000Sale Price|20% Off

H 35.44 in W 70.87 in D 27.56 in

Gio Ponti Tomaso Buzzi Sofa

By Tomaso Buzzi, Gio Ponti

Located in Red Lion, PA

Truly beautiful one of a kind authorized copy of Gio Ponti and Tomaso Buzzi 1930 Sofa. Walnut frame upholstered in satin silk. Manifactured by Carpani F.ll inc Literature: Mobili De...

Category

1930s Vintage Tomaso Buzzi

Materials

Satin, Silk, Walnut

Set of Four Murano Glass Sconces by Tomaso Buzzi for Venini, Italy, c. 1932.
Set of Four Murano Glass Sconces by Tomaso Buzzi for Venini, Italy, c. 1932.

Set of Four Murano Glass Sconces by Tomaso Buzzi for Venini, Italy, c. 1932.

$7,600 / set

H 12 in W 5 in D 6 in

Set of Four Murano Glass Sconces by Tomaso Buzzi for Venini, Italy, c. 1932.

By Venini, Tomaso Buzzi

Located in Los Angeles, CA

Elegant and refined, this set of four Italian wall sconces was designed by Tomaso Buzzi for Venini, circa 1932. Each sconce features a softly flared pink Murano glass shade accented ...

Category

1930s Italian Vintage Tomaso Buzzi

Materials

Murano Glass

Tomaso Buzzi (1900-1981) and Venini, chandeliers "lattimo" and "pulegoso"
Tomaso Buzzi (1900-1981) and Venini, chandeliers "lattimo" and "pulegoso"

Tomaso Buzzi (1900-1981) and Venini, chandeliers "lattimo" and "pulegoso"

$6,066

H 39.38 in Dm 21.26 in

Tomaso Buzzi (1900-1981) and Venini, chandeliers "lattimo" and "pulegoso"

By Venini, Tomaso Buzzi

Located in NEUILLY-SUR-SEINE, FR

Tomaso Buzzi (1900-1981) and Venini Rare floral hanging light in blown glass using the "lattimo" and "pulegoso" techniques Circa 1935 Composed of a central basin and twelve palm lea...

Category

1930s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Tomaso Buzzi

Materials

Blown Glass

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Tomaso Buzzi Sale Prices

Sold DateSold PriceCategoryMaterialCreation Year
2026$13,988Chandeliers and PendantsBlown Glass1930s
2025$16,830Chandeliers and PendantsBrass, Blown Glass, Murano Glass1940s
$15,409
Average sold price of items in the past 12 months
$13,988-$16,830
Sold price range of items in the past 12 months

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Tomaso Buzzi furniture for sale on 1stDibs.

Tomaso Buzzi furniture are available for sale on 1stDibs. These distinctive items are frequently made of glass and are designed with extraordinary care. There are many options to choose from in our collection of Tomaso Buzzi furniture, although brown editions of this piece are particularly popular. Many of the original furniture by Tomaso Buzzi were created in the mid-century modern style in italy during the 20th century. If you’re looking for additional options, many customers also consider furniture by Anzolo Fuga, Ludovico Diaz de Santillana, and Pino Signoretto. Prices for Tomaso Buzzi furniture can differ depending upon size, time period and other attributes — on 1stDibs, these items begin at $890 and can go as high as $228,000, while a piece like these, on average, fetch $4,381.

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