World-famous glassmakers from Murano are destroyed by expensive gas

The world-famous glassmakers on the island of Murano near Venice have had a hard time coping with the problems associated with the new coronavirus pandemic. They switched to more expensive works of art to better face cheap competition from Asia. But rising energy prices have once again shaken their economic model. Dozens of kilns left on the island, where the Venetian rulers moved the glass to be blown 700 years ago, must burn continuously so that the expensive crucibles inside do not burst. However, the price of methane on the world market has tripled since October 1. The glassblowers thus face some losses in the orders they are trying to fulfill, at least in the foreseeable future. "People are desperate," said Gianni De Checchi, president of the Confartiginato Association of Arts and Crafts. "If this continues and we do not find solutions to sudden and abnormal gas prices, the entire Murano glass sector will be in serious danger." A medium-sized glass workshop, such as Simone Cenedese, consumes 12,000 cubic meters (m3) of methane per month to maintain the temperature in its seven furnaces above 1,000 degrees Celsius 24 hours a day. As part of maintenance, it switches them off only once a year, in August. Its monthly accounts normally ranged from € 11,000 to € 13,000 under a previous fixed-price contract that expired on September 30. Cenedese is now exposed to fluctuations in the gas market. It estimates an increase in methane costs to € 60,000 in October, as the gas market has been affected by rising demand in China, uncertain supplies from Russia and alarmingly low commodity stocks in Europe. Craftsmen like Cenedese are now facing a huge increase in energy costs, while the prices of book-entry orders can no longer increase. At the same time, they hoped that their new orders would pull them out of the crisis caused by the new coronavirus. After the outbreak of the pandemic last spring, the blockades and social distance in Italy stopped the glass production on the island of Murano for a while. "We can't increase the prices that have already been set. This means that we have been forced to work at a loss for at least two months," said Cenedese, a third-generation glassmaker who took over the business from his father. "We sell decorations, not essential items, which means that if prices are unavailable, there are usually no orders," he added. Cenedese, like the others on the island, is considering closing one of his furnaces to face the crisis. It will cost him 2,000 euros for a cracked crucible. And it will also slow down the production and fulfillment of orders. His five glassblowers work with an incredibly precise choreography of follow-up processes to fulfill an order for 1,800 Christmas decorations studded with gold flakes heading to Switzerland. Together they can make 300 ornaments a day. "No machine can do what we do," said Master David Cimarosti, who has been working as a glassblower for 42 years.