For.El. at glasstec 2004: "Wings of Venice", innovations and confirmations

Here’s how, as it has been for years, For.El has made itself spokesman of the antique Venetian culture of glasswork, placing it side by side to its high tech products. For.El, more than remembering Venice through one of its symbols like the gondola, has brought to Duesseldorf the art and culture of glasswork of the past which is still found today in Murano’s glassworks. A symbol of all this has been the “Ali di Venezia” (Wings of Venice) project that For.El re-proposed at its stand.

“Le Ali di Venezia” (Wings of Venice), initially called “Alba di Murano (Dawn of Murano)”, is a sculptural, monumental and conceptual project. With this work the masters of Murano, fortified by the most antique techniques they have been using with great skill for hundreds of years, show their capacity to continually reinvent themselves. Here glassware of Murano proves to be a worthy exponent of the best international art and design, maintaining, or even better developing, its peculiar features.”

Ideas and designing:

“The idea was born from a deep conviction of two artists in the extraordinary skill the masters of Murano are gifted with. The adaptability and potential expressiveness of glass inspired them to design a monumental sculpture.
A human, technical and artistic challenge:
imagine two wings on the water like a big bird at rest or that is taking flight, in the San Marco Basin, in the heart of the city, with the colors of dawn for a new day arising.
To realize this project a group of master glassworkers, engineers and technicians were put together. The work is made up of two wings formed by 416 feathers in crystal glass, of various heights from 70 cm to 300 cm, blown and extended according to the required sizes, respecting forms and movements, not using molds, maintaining a technical virtuousness and a perfect interaction between the master and the artist. The feathers represent individualities that once united become strong and can fly. The engineers were asked a steel modular structure that could combine technical needs with elegant visibility, on a strong but not bulky structure. The work was wanted to be and to coexist with dilatations and vibrations that the waves, the wind, the cold, the sun bring on, in its lightness and in its solidity, exalting the flight of wings.
Light has a fundamental role in glass; light seems to be born inside it, it spreads, it emanates and reflects softly and brightly in the water.

“Le Ali di Venezia” (Wings of Venice), with their conceptual and symbolic meaning, represent a strong message and confirm the fact that Murano glassware is art matter, pure and authentic.”

For.El’s intention, that is to also bestow an artistic and cultural feature to its exposition, was brilliantly successful. Numerous were the visitors that in five days stopped with curiosity to admire the art of the masters of Murano. The new blow up that represented Venice, dominated by two immense styled wings, introduced you into the corner in which you could savor the thousand-year-old technique of the Venetian artist. There were some original feathers of the “Ali” (Wings), the oven for melting raw material, work equipment and blowing tests for the colors. Moreover a video that was cyclically projected ran through the manufacturing phases of the work showing the artisan techniques that had been used. To close the scene there were a number of photographs printed on glass panels representing “Le Ali di Venezia” (Wings of Venice) under all its aspects, from its realization to its installation, from transport of the single feathers to the whole overall work.

Innovations

The great innovation that For.El has exhibited among its products is the Automatic Super Spacer Applicator, a machine that has aroused a lot of interest even though it is For.El’s first model. This machine automatically applies the spacer profile, a profile by now known by all and realized by Edgetech, the so-called “warm edge”. Two are the advantages offered by the use of this kind of profile; it improves insulation characteristics of the double-glazing and speeds up production. A continuous strip of the profile is wound by a bobbin and directly applied on one of the two glass panes till a closed frame is formed; all is done on the same production line of the double-glazing. The For.El Automatic Super Spacer Applicator, compared to other models that already exist of other manufacturers, introduces some essential and innovating devices that allow application of the spacer profile on the glass pane in the most inexpensive, functional and reliable way, as well as leading to a superior quality result, especially at the corners. The For.El Automatic Super Spacer Applicator also carries out application of the spacer profile on shaped glass.
Introduction of this machine into the double-glazing production lines eliminates all the part of the spacer frame work process, from bending and filling with hygroscopic material to butyling, optimizing work time and limiting investments to obtain the same final result, if not to improve it.
This machine is highly modular. It can be installed in double-glazing lines that are not For.El’s and replace work phases of the aluminum frame in a line already set up.

Confirmations

“Imitated all the more but inimitable” can be said with reference to the Automatic Line for Cutting Stratified Glass Panes. As a matter of fact, even though the first prototype of the line dates back to almost 15 years, when everyone was skeptical and doubtful, still today, after the confirmation about its being an ingenious intuition and the demonstration of the several advantages that have resulted compared to traditional techniques, this plant made by For.El is still the only one in the world for performance, cutting quality and technology used.

Thanks to its exclusive “feeler” system the For.El Automatic Arrissing Machine is still incomparable regarding the quality of its arrissing realized along the edges of the glass pane. The last update on this machine is the application (optional) of the “edge shattering” device. It is a cylinder wheel alongside the work wheel that peripherally removes the point developed at each corner of the glass pane.

Another automatic For.El plant which has astounded for years at specialized sector fairs is the Automatic butyl-rubber sealing machine. The technique and logistics it uses to apply butyl along the spacer frames are exclusive.

Thanks to continuous research carried out in its production departments, every year For.El is able to propose new solutions and innovating improvements. At every meeting, like this year at Glasstec, For.El always shows up with concrete answers to the market’s dynamic needs.