Carlo Nason

Italian lighting designer Carlo Nason (1935–2026) was born in Murano, one of the world’s great centers of glass artistry, into one of its oldest and most respected glassmaking families. Over a career spanning more than five decades, he created over 1,000 glass objects, from lamps and vases to tableware and sculptural pieces, establishing himself as one of the most prolific and accomplished figures in mid-century Italian glass and lighting design.

Raised Beside the Furnace

Glass was part of Nason’s daily life from the very beginning. His father, Vincenzo Nason, led the Nason Moretti glassworks before founding his own Murano factory, V. Nason & C., in the 1930s. The family home stood beside the factory, and as a child Carlo helped light the coal-fired ovens, watching master artisans at work and absorbing the rhythms of the craft long before he began designing himself.

A Career Built on Experimentation

Nason approached design as an open field of inquiry, guided by instinct and curiosity. Not every idea reached production; some prototypes proved too complex, others impossible to manufacture. That willingness to risk failure was essential to his work, and it allowed him to expand what glass could express. His pieces are held in collections from MoMA to the Corning Museum of Glass, and his Lotus lamp, now produced by GUBI, shows his mastery of light, with a glow that softens as it passes through each layer of glass.

Why We Curate Carlo Nason

At Lumens, we value designers whose work carries real provenance, and few can trace theirs as directly as Nason: a lifetime spent in the Murano home where he was born, shaped by generations of family craftsmanship. His designs offer something rare in lighting, a quality of glow that feels calm, layered, and genuinely timeless. For customers seeking an iconic piece of Italian glass with a story worth telling, Carlo Nason’s work is an enduring choice.