Marcolin Brothers
Josef Marcolin (b 1933) and Benito Marcolin (b 1936), learned their glass making skills on the island of Murano, Venice, and later moved to Sweden to work at the Glimma glassworks in 1954, then Reijmyre 1956-61, before starting their own company, FM Konstglas. Several of the same designs can be found from both Reijmyre and FM Konstglas. FM stands for Färe-Marcolin, a combination of the brothers’ surname and the maiden name of Josef’s wife, Inga-Lill Färe (married in late 1950’s). Inga-Lill’s father Bror Färe was a businessman, and it is thought that he helped to fund the company, which would explain the inclusion of his surname in the company name. “Konstglas” is Swedish for “Art Glass”. At first, they rented space at Eneryda glassworks. Glass produced while at Eneryda can be found with labels which read “FM Konstglas, Eneryda”. They set up their own glassworks in 1961, in the Swedish town of Ronneby. Labels then read either “FM Konstglas, Ronneby” or “FM Konstglas, Ronneby, Sweden”.
FM Konstglas / Marcolin pieces are often signed, including a pattern number, on the base, which consists of the initial of the designer, and model number of the item, sometimes followed by the size of the item. The size was given in millimetres up until 1983, when the size was instead given in centimetres, both in the signatures and price lists. Designer codes include: M – Josef Marcolin, B – Benito Marcolin, and F – Inga-Lill Färe. Production was mainly glass figurines, with a unique blended style of Swedish and Murano. They also produces other glassware such as vases, bowls and perfume bottles, using traditional Murano techniques such as millefiori, sommerso and zanfirico. These can easily be mistaken for Murano glass if not found with labels. The company changed its name to FM Marcolin Art Crystal in 1983, and in 1988-89 changed again to Marcolin Art Crystal. The Swedish factory closed in 1991, and production was moved to Sardinia, Italy, in collaboration with Sardinia Crystal, with the intention of producing the same products, however this didn’t last long. The Marcolin brothers left and went their separate ways, Benito moved back to Sweden, while Josef moved to Austria and continued production under the name Marcolin Art Crystal. Update – Josef passed away in 2015, aged 82. The website for Marcolin Art Crystal no longer works, so it is possible the factory has now closed (needs confirmation).
FM stands for Färe Marcolin, F does not stand for Fare or Faro.
Josef Marcolin was married to Inga-Lill Färe.
Josef and Benito Marcolin had their own glassworks in Ronneby, Sweden, 1961-1991.
The name of the company was FM Konstglas.
In 1983 they changed the trade name to Marcolin Art Crystal (with the FM logo),
the company name was still FM Konstglas.
In approx. 1988-1989 they changed the company name to Marcolin Art Crystal,
with trade name Marcolin Art Crystal (now without the FM logo).
In 1991 Josef and Benito moved production to Sardinia, Italy.
The company closed down in Ronneby in 1991 and the Marcolin brothers went back
to Italy to work with Sardinia Crystal. The idea was to continue production of
the existing range of products but the collaboration did not work out.
Benito moved back to Sweden and Josef to Austria.
I do not have much details about this collaboration but Sardinia Crystal
retained some rights to both the name Marcolin and some of the design for a
number of years. Possibly from 1994-2004.
When referring to Marcolin/Sardinia Crystal, it’s better to use Marcolin Sardinia, to avoid confusion.
1994-2001 Benito worked for Vas Vitreum, Vadstena, Sweden. http://www.vasvitreum.se/
Josef (after Sardinia Crystal) has collaborated with Waterford Crystal, Dartington Crystal (1997-1999) and also Colle Vilca (Italy).
FM Konstglas in Ronneby was run by skilled glassblowers, trained in the
Murano technique.
During the 1960’s and 1970’s quite a number of Murano glassblowers moved to
Ronneby to work for FM Konstglas, for longer or shorter time periods.
The Marcolin brothers’ brother-in-law Aureliano Toso also worked for FM
Konstglas.
The Murano influence was strong during these years. I do not know if FM had
any need to import from the “homeland”.
I have now also learnt that Luigi Barbaro worked for FM at the end of the
1960’s/the beginning of the 1970’s, he is the brother of Alessandro Barbaro
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