Laura de Santillana Italian, 1955-2019

     Born in Venice in 1955, Laura de Santillana studied classics and architecture before moving to New York City, where she worked with the Vignelli Associates studio whilst attending the School of Visual Arts. De Santillana went on to design art books and began designing objects and lamps for the family business, Venini, alongside her father Ludovico. Founded with her father and brother, de Santillana served as art director of EOS until 1993.

      Following a commission to design a kaiseki range in glass, Laura began a long working relationship with Japan, notably alongside lacquer master Suzuki Mutsumi. From 1999 until her death in 2019, de Santillana committed herself to innovating glass techniques; it is during this period that she created many of her iconic works, including her signature standing glass series. 

Public Collections:

Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, New York, USA

Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California, USA

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas, USA

Museum of Arts and Design, New York, USA

Musée des Arts Decoratifs, Paris, France

Museo Vetrario di Murano (Murano Glass Museum), Venice, Italy

Museum of Contemporary Design and Applied Arts, Lausanne, Switzerland

Kunstmuseum Duesseldorf im Ehrenhof, Düsseldorf, Germany

Kunstsammlungen der Veste Coburg, Coburg, Germany

Glasmuseum Lette - Alter Hof Herding, Coesfeld, Germany

Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

Die Neue Sammlung – The Design Museum, München, Germany

Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, New York, USA

Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, Missouri, USA

Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, USA

Denver Art Museum, Denver, Colorado, USA

Mingei International Museum, San Diego, California, USA

Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

Lowe Art Museum, Coral Gables, Miami, Florida, USA

Sao Paolo Museu de Arte, São Paulo, Brazil