Santo Domingo is the first city in Central America to have its own Venini showroom. The company founded in 1921 by the Milanese lawyer Paolo Venini and the Venetian antiquarian Giacomo Cappellin recently opened the space, with interiors by the Dominican designer Jorge Luis Gutiérrez and the Italian architect Danilo Rodio, of the studio Gutiérrez Rodio Workshop specializing in design, lighting and landscape architecture.
The opening is part of the international strategy of Venini, which sets out to export the Made in Italy of the age-old art of Murano glass, making effective inroads on foreign markets such as those of Central America, Asia and the United States.
The boutique is inserted in the local context, facing the street in the design district of the capital of the Dominican Republic. Organized on a single level, the venue welcomes clients with a two-story facade composed of two parts: one that is full, a wall clad in large slabs of porcelain stoneware, and one that is empty, with a steel structure that acts as a sunscreen. The suspended ceiling in lacquered wood is a tribute to the dynamism and speed of the operations in the glassworks.
The displays are based on the image of an art gallery, with Venini’s products highlighted by theatrical lighting. The space features furnishings and walls in tones of gray, with the aim of bringing out the lively hues of the creations, including new products and bestsellers created by internationally acclaimed artists like Gio Ponti, Mimmo Rotella, Carlo Scarpa, Alessandro Mendini, Massimiliano Fuksas and Gae Aulenti, and produced by the company’s master glassblowers. The works on view include Decò by Napoleone Martinuzzi, Fazzoletti Opalini and Clessidre by Fulvio Bianconi, and Yemen by Ettore Sottsass.
