"Hand-blown using centuries-old techniques — no two pieces are identical."

Make Bespoke Studio is a bespoke chandelier manufacturer, making Murano glass chandeliers and lighting in collaboration with master glassblowers on the island of Murano, Venice. Every piece is hand-blown using centuries-old techniques, no two pieces are identical.

We offer the full range of Murano glass techniques: sommerso, filigrana, lattimo, avventurina and millefiori. Colour, scale, arm configuration and metalwork finish are all specified to order. We can match to Pantone or RAL references.

Each piece is made to order on the island of Murano and typically requires 14–18 weeks from approved design to delivery. Slight variation in colour and form is inherent to the hand-made process and is part of the character of the piece. We visit our glassmaking partners annually to review archive designs, develop new forms and select stock glass. Documentation of Murano provenance is provided on delivery.

Glassmaker in a yellow shirt working at a glass furnace in a Murano glass factory

Glassmaker shaping a red-hot glass piece with a metal tool in the glassworks

Glassmaker working at a bench with a long iron pipe and shaping tools

Molten glass glowing orange inside a furnace opening on the end of a blowpipe

Clear blown glass vessel with an orange spiral thread of glass, Murano glass colour detail

In Detail

Made in the furnaces of Murano

Our Murano chandeliers are blown on the island itself, in family furnaces working techniques that have been guarded there since 1291. Each arm, leaf and flower is shaped by hand at the furnace mouth; no mould can replicate the slight asymmetries that make Venetian glass alive. The techniques behind the work — canework, incalmo, sommerso, aventurine — are covered in our journal guide to Murano glass techniques.

Classic forms and contemporary readings

The classic Venetian chandelier vocabulary runs from the flowered Rezzonico style — the form most people picture, with its ornate arms and botanical detail — to simpler five-light and eight-light arm chandeliers that suit period rooms without overwhelming them. Alongside the classics we commission contemporary Murano work: single-colour statements, clustered globes and sculptural one-offs designed with the project’s interior designer.

Venetian chandelier or Murano chandelier?

The two names are used interchangeably, but they mean different things. “Venetian” describes a style: the ornate, flowered, many-armed chandelier with leaves and blooms in clear and coloured glass. “Murano” describes where and how the glass is made: blown by hand on the island of Murano in the Venetian lagoon. A classic Venetian chandelier can be made in Murano, and so can a modern one with no ornament at all. We produce both, and the starting point is usually the room rather than the label: ceiling height, how the chandelier is seen from the stairs or the street, and how much light the space needs.

Specifying a Murano glass chandelier

To quote and design a chandelier we need the room first: drawings or a sketch showing the ceiling height and where it will hang, the style or reference images you have in mind, the glass colour and metalwork finish, and any lighting requirement such as dimming or a particular lamp type. We then develop the design with you, sample the glass and confirm the commission. Murano pieces are made to order, so the usual 14 to 18 weeks from approved design to delivery applies, and our team handles engineering, UK wiring certification and installation.

Colour, from black glass to white

Colour in Murano glass is mixed in the melt, not applied: it cannot fade or wear. A black glass chandelier reads as sculpture — dramatic against pale walls and one of our most requested contemporary specifications. White and opaline glass gives the opposite effect, soft and luminous. Between the two sit amber, smoke, amethyst and the gold-flecked aventurine glasses, all sampled as actual glass before the commission is confirmed.

Beyond chandeliers

The same furnaces produce wall lights, table lamps and Venetian mirrors — etched and bevelled in the island tradition — so a scheme can carry Murano glass through a building rather than in one room only. Engineering, UK wiring certification, installation and a maintenance kit are handled by our team, as with every bespoke lighting commission. For how hotels brief lighting at scale, see hotel lighting design.

For hotels, restaurants and members’ clubs, see our hospitality lighting.

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