Stefano Dalla Valentina was born in Murano in 1974.
His father, the Master Adriano Dalla Valentina, although he was aware of the sacrifices that this profession requires, encouraged him to succeed himself as a designer. So he attended the factory of his father at a very young age, carrying out various tasks, both in the furnace and in the grinding department, while not leaving aside his studies, which led him to attend the State Institute of Art in Venice for five years, obtaining diplomas of Master of Art (1991) and that of Artistic level (1993).
In 1991 he definitively entered as a designer in his father's furnace, where he dedicated himself to the design of the works and assisted his father in the realization of the same.
In 1995, always keeping the dedication in the furnace, he is admitted to the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice, where he attended the painting section, for only 5 months, until the day in which he understood that Glass and Fire can give three-dimensionality to his ideas, offering more possibilities to express his creativity.
In 1997 he began his own production path, first favoring the technique of scratched gold and enamel decoration, then moving to the creation of vases and sculptures, with the “massello” work (solid work) using the millenary technique in Murano named “mano volante” (flying hand).
He continues to paint and, in his own way, integrates his studies in Italy and abroad, attending courses in painting, sculpture, engraving and decoration. Treasuring the techniques he has acquired, he creates unique pieces where he combines materials such as wood, marble and metal with his glass.
He exhibits his works in important events and in many museums, as in Italy as abroad; in several occasions he exposes in the Glass Museum of Murano.
Facilitated by his experiences as designers, which allow him to easily read other people's projects, he collaborates with young talents in the creation of glass works designed by them.
He is in love with the sea and, as diving instructor, every dive is a starting point and a source of inspiration for creating new works with a Marine theme.
His creation of 2013 "Wreck with sharks", combines his greatest passions: sea, glass and sharks.
In 2014 he won the Murano award creating 2 glassworks, the one from a designer’s project (furnace section) and the other from a junior’s drawing (school section) who earned him many prizes. The event repeated in 2015 and he won the special prize "Marin".
Since 2009 he collaborates with the Museum of Natural History of Venice, realizing special artworks that are exposed in the Gallery of Cetaceans, in the occasion of the annual international competition “Underwaterphoto Venice”.
He is often in contact with other Murano and foreign glass artists and he creates suggestive mixtures with them.
In 2017 he designed and realizes the Challenge Venice Trophy, Iron Man.
In 2018 he made a helmet for the New York fire brigade, "9/11 never forget" FDNY Helmet who will donate to the commander Mr. Daniel Nigro.
In 2019 he received a special mention from FDNY.
Always in 2019 he collaborated with Y-40 (the world's deepest pool) and the director Florian Fisher.
Outside of the glass world, he created the logo for the City of Venice, the one for the international underwater photography competition and the image that links the exhibition itself to the Museum of Natural History in Venice.
From his hand many logos and brands are born, including those of some glass artists.
In 2009, having never totally abandoned painting, he created a painting of 8 x 1.50 meters named "Last Supper" to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the well-known restaurant "AI FRATI" in Murano. It took a year of work to depict in it 51 affectionate customers, each of whom paid a contribution; the sum obtained was entirely donated to a pediatric research institute.
Assisting his father Adriano, he acquired various working techniques, such as the blown work, the massive and blown sculptures, which still allow him to express himself at best, using polychrome rods, filigrees, “reticello” and “murrina” that he himself creates starting from his own " vitreous recipe ”.
In Dalla Valentina’s studio there is an air of tradition and continuous innovation, in the experimentation and research of new projects and future works.
“I worked, and I still do it, clay, wood, iron and marble, but I am charmed by “CAVAR FORMA” (GIVE A SHAPE) to the GLASS and realize artworks, interacting with a liquid and incandescent substance that, becoming cold, changes and assumes a solid state; it does not give you the time to hesitate, you have to work it quickly and you have to do it with knowledge, otherwise the glass does not reward you.
Unlike others workable materials, I wait for inspiration because “if it not today, it will be tomorrow”.
The glass is a living material that every days never misses the opportunity to teach you something, artistically enriching yourself”
Stefano Dalla Valentina
