FRAMES
Giberto Arrivabene Valenti Gonzaga
Giberto Arrivabene Valenti Gonzaga
GIBERTO
GIBERTO VENEZIA is an exclusive range of Murano glass designed by Count Giberto Arrivabene Valenti Gonzaga.
Growing up in Venice, in rooms frescoed by Tiepolo and overlooking the Grand Canal, Giberto was particularly inspired by old objects around the house. “Our carafe, which was chipped on the edge, has become one of my most successful creations: a decanter to which I added a silver beak, like that of the seagulls that fly over the lagoon”.
Inspired by his Palazzo and the beautiful city of Venice, he creates stunning objects - glasses but also candle holderes, picture frames, vases, decanters and mirrors - made from Murano glass and other materials such as wood, slate, agate and rock crystal.
2020 FRAME COLLECTION
«I’ve always had a passion for glass and handmade objectssays Giberto Arrivabene Valenti Gonzaga. I started by designing glasses for my friends and family about twenty years ago. Soon after, as I started getting more and more requests, I decided to get serious about it and founded Giberto Venezia with my wife Bianca. I’m the designer and she is the rainmaker, it’s a great family affair!
When I design a new product my friends, my family, my travels, and my childhood memories are my greatest source of inspiration. My family has been the inspiration for the Coccodrillo, Tigre, Leopardo, Egeo, Peonia, Baltico, and Ibisco frames in Tessitura Luigi Bevilacqua velvet, and for the Olimpia and Agata frames respectively in rock crystal and agate.»
PEONIA
PEONIA
“I’ve always adored Asian culture. There, the majestic peony is worshipped as barer of good luck and symbol of a happy marriage. Representation of love and affection, it also carries the meaning of prosperity, honor, and nobility of mind. I had to dedicate this beautiful flower to my loving wife Bianca, amazing mother and hard worker, here in the photo with my first daughter Viola.
At Tessitura Luigi Bevilacqua, where textiles are still woven on wooden looms, I found the ideal velvet to do so, one that resembled the light pinks and violets of the petals. I thus created the Peonia picture frame, uniting the Zig-Zag textile to the sturdy mahogany base, and completing the design with Murano glass canne, or canes, that give the design item a polished finishing touch.”
LEOPARDO
LEOPARDO
Visconti di Modrone, here in a photo by George Hoyningen-Huene for Vogue Paris, was one of my favorite people.
“My
One time she told me about her trip to India in the Thirties. She sailed off with my father to reach a Maharaja’s Palace. Soon after their arrival, the three embarked on a journey deep in the wilderness. They camped out beneath the tropical greenery, awaiting the sleek and fierce leopard. Finally, the majestic feline appeared making its way through the thick vegetation. The three sat in awe as the animal approached. It had spotted them and started snarling. Thankfully, my father had years of experience with firearms. Hi lifted his rifle swiftly, aimed at the sky, and fired. The smell of gunpowder filled the air as they saw the large cat escape in terror, pouncing through the thick vegetation. I created this frame to capture the best moments for thrill-seeking loved ones, and for all adventurous journeys.”
aunt Nicky Arrivabene
IBISCO
IBISCO
The Ibisco is a precious and sophisticated frame that harmonically unites materials that are very different from one another. For this version of the frame, Giberto chose Tessitura
Luigi Bevilacqua’s precious Ibisco fabric from the Zig-Zag collection. The red cotton velvet is produced by Bevilacqua: historic laboratory on the Grand Canal in Venice that to this day weaves its velvets with XVIII century looms. It recalls the old fiammati, or flamed textiles that adorned the sofas in Palazzo
Papadopoli, today Aman Venice, when the designer was a child.
In the photograph Bianca and Giberto’s children Viola, Vera, Mafalda, Maddalena and Leonardo are immortalized by Deborah Tubeville for Vogue Italia in 2005 as they play in Palazzo
Papadopoli’s garden.
BALTICO
BALTICO
The Baltico frame is of a very special green. Our Venetian lagoon in fact is exactly this color at times. In the photo we remember that time in which Franca Sozzani and Robert Rabenstainer asked Giberto and his wife Bianca to dress in tight or morning suit for the 2007 Uomo Vogue edition in which other couples also dressed in menswear.
Luckily the amazing photographer Deborah Turbeville was in town to photograph Palazzo Papadopoli, today Aman Venice, with its inhabitants. Finally, she made the shot happen.
EGEO
EGEO
Surely you have all seen Summertime, the most fun and romantic movie taking place in Venice. If you haven’t, you must! The most witty scene is that of Katharine Hepburn gracefully and elegantly falling into the blue lagoon. This photo inspired Giberto to create a new frame. One that would represent the city’s colors back in the day when he would jump off bridges and into the canal. When he would run around the campo, this is what we call a square, playing soccer with his friends. A color that would take him back to his childhood.
He found it at Tessitura Luigi Bevilacqua’s atelier on the Grand Canal where the velvets, silks, and cottons are still woven on XVIII century looms. Egeo in the Zig-Zag pattern is the perfect gift to frame the most extraordinary moments you have captured on camera.
TIGRE
TIGRE
In the photograph Bianca and Mafalda shot in 2006 by Deborah Turbeville at Palazzo Papadopoli. Bianca tells the story of when «Franca Sozzani came to visit with her son Francesco on an early September day during Mostra del Cinema. I showed them the Piano Nobile at our home, Palazzo Papadopoli, which we had just finished renovating with Herculean labors. Franca asked if she could have us photographed for Vogue Italia. She already knew what the answer was going to be.
About a month later the great photographer Deborah Turbeville arrived with the world-renowned stylist Robert Rabensteiner. We spent three days together, we had a blast! And most importantly, the photos were a wonderful souvenir of that amazing time. Deborah later sent us a photo album of all the shots. I cherish the book dearly.”
Fast forward a few years and, after additional Herculean labors
Palazzo Papadopoli became one of the nicest hotels in Italy, the Aman Venice.
COCCODRILLO
COCCODRILLO
During a visit to Tessiture Luigi Bevilacqua’s Atelier in Santa Croce (a must see when in Venice), Giberto and Julia literally went crazy for the Coccodrillo fabric. They immediately decided to use it to embellish one of our frames.
The photograph we decided to include represents Queen Elena, Elena of Montenegro, Celtigne 1873 – 1952 Montpelier. The Queen dedicated the photo to Countess Vera Arrivabene, our creative Director’s grandmother.
Venice is the common thread that connects all the dots. The young Princess from Montenegro met her future husband, Vittorio Emanuele di Savoia, for the first time (encounter orchestrated by Queen Margherita and Francesco Crispi) at La Fenice on a Venice trip during the International Exhibition of Art in 1895 (the first Art Biennale). They got married the following year and lived together for the rest of their lives, a true love marriage.
Materials:
Tessitura Luigi Bevilacqua velvet, Murano glass rods, mahogany wood, and metal nails.
Dimensions: 18.11 x 14.17 in / 46 x 36 cm
Photo Dimensions: 13 x 9 in / 35 x 25 cm
All photographs included in the frames are only for show.
info@giberto.it +39 349 749 1793
OLIMPIA
OLIMPIA
OLIMPIA
After over a year of design and back and forth with the artisans, Madagascar, the shipping company and customs, we were able to create the stunning Olimpia, one of the most sophisticated pieces in the collection. The rock crystal was flown in from Madagascar, and the cobalt bronze base, as well as the back, were handcrafted by our trusted artisans, who spent months in contact with the galvanic to create the perfect effect and find the correct engineering balance to allow the Olimpia frame to come to life.
In the photo we remember that time Franca Sozzani and Robert Rabenstainer asked Giberto and his wife Bianca to dress in tight or morning suit for the 2007 Uomo Vogue edition in which other couples also dressed in menswear.
Luckily the amazing photographer Deborah Turbeville was in town to photograph Palazzo Papadopoli, today AMAN Venice, with its inhabitants. Finally, she made the shot happen and, yes, we had it cropped to only fit Gibi.
AGATA
AGATA
AGATA
Only by chance one day our trusted and harming suppliers from Madagascar shared a number of photographs of slates of agate. Giberto almost fell off his chair, the slates were beyond any kind of expectation, frames needed to urgently be made.
The next steps were not easy, but what a surprise when they finally made it to our headquarters, and we could fill them with our favorite photos. Every Agata frame’s pattern is completely different from one another. The grains on each one are the result of millennia of nature’s work, the Earth’s natural pattern.
In the photo is Miu, ”my wife Bianca’s grandmother”. Born in France, she later exiled to Morocco, the beautigul country in which she lived for several adventurous years. Bianca’s mother was actually born there, in Larache, and many of their grandchildren stayed with her on long sejours. Even today they can tell you wonderful stories about those very special years, the magical light, the flowers and the familiar warmth Miu conveyed.
Materials:
Rock crystal or agate and cobalt bronze.
Dimensions: 8.2 x 11.2 in / 21 x 29 cm
Photo Dimensions: 4.4 x 6.7 in / 11.2 x 17.2 cm
All photographs included in the frames are only for show. info@giberto.it +39 349 749
1793