At what point does a commercial product become a work of art? How do we distinguish between the two? Is it even necessary? I’m not sure why I’m asking these questions. But they came to me quite intuitively while I was looking at a Murano glass vase by Vittorio Zecchin, made in the 1920s. Maybe it's because it reminded me instantly of the vases immortalized in the paintings of Giorgio Morandi, which are some of my favorite artworks in the world. Maybe a product becomes a work of art, in your own head at least, when it evokes a powerful, if inchoate, emotion.
Admittedly, I also really, really like glassware, and it’s possible that I don't feel the same powerful emotion about other objects Zecchin made (in addition to his extensive glass designs, he was also a painter, tapestry maker, and furniture designer). But I sort of suspect that I would. Zecchin initially wanted to become an artist and not a designer, so maybe my questions about product versus work of art are actually appropriate, because it’s possible that he posed the same ones to himself, at least on some level. The incredible beauty of his glassware, the way it seems to stretch the credibility of calling it a product, seems to suggest that he did.
-Eugenie Dalland