Topic: AVEM Tutti Frutti leaf dish?

[Sandra]

Does this look like it may have been made by AVEM & would you call it tutti frutti?

 

[TxSilver]

No one else has answered yet, so I'll give it a try. I believe that tutti frutti is not really a technique, but just describes a colorful scrambled cane bowl that often has latticino. So if this idea is right, your bowl could qualify as tutti frutti. It is hard to say for sure it is AVeM because several companies did similar bowls. Without seeing a labeled bowl that is the same design, I wouldn't be able to say with any certainty. I hope someone else will recognize the design.

[obscurities]

I'll chime in here.

This piece does not strike me as an AVEM piece, but something more generic....

I do not think of this type of glass as Tutti Frutti. To me Tutti Frutti, as done by AVEM contains much larger and more defined fragments of canes, ribbon and latticino. I also do not associate the use of streaks of solid color glass in a Tutti Frutti piece.

To me, Tutti Frutti is an artistic conglomeration of canes and latticino suspended in clear glass, which may or may not be over a colored vessel, but not containing "smears" of solid color. My understanding is that it is a name applied to a technique developed by Dino Martens at AVEM, although I feel the term has been widely applied to even remotely similar pieces through the years, for lack of a better descriptive term to apply to remotely similar work.

Most Tutti Frutti pieces I have seen are not very large, and the ones that are AVEM Tutti Frutti and are large are typically associated with high price tags to go with the size.

This is a link to an AVEM Tutti Frutti piece. This piece is a little larger than most at around 6 inches tall.  You see a lot of Toothpick holders and such in what I see as authentic AVEM Tutti Frutti.....
 
http://antiquehelper.rfcsystems.com/Full/715/61715.jpg

Hope this helps.... Someone else can certainly correct me if my understanding is flawed.

Craig

[TxSilver]

I do want to say that I've looked for a couple of years and have not come up with any evidence that Dino Martens was involved (or not involved) with AVeM tutti frutti. The only reference I've seen is in Judith Miller and Leslie Pina, where it was mentioned that Martens was a possible designer, which was repeated by a couple of other people until it evolved into fact on eBay. Martens did do some designs for other companies before he accepted his position with Aureliano Toso. Two companies I know of are Salviati and Fratelli Toso. He may have designed something for AVeM -- hard to know without reading anything definite.

[obscurities]

I do not remember exactly where I got the attribution from, but I do not believe it was from ebay..... My memory could be failing me on that though, although I usually avoid ebay attributions. I did have several email correspondence with a high end Italian collector in Phoenix several years ago and he sent me some images, including a 20" tutti Frutti piece that he also identified as Martens for AVEM. It is the largest example I have ever seen, in an image or otherwise....  It is monstrous!!

I also found this reference by Svazzo (Javier) on his website. He attributes 4 pieces of Tutti Frutti to Dino Martens for AVEM. He may be able to provide a source for the attribution....  Here is a link to his site page for Martens:

As far as being 100% sure of the attribution goes.....  I am neither denying or confirming the accuracy of that statement senator, as I have no specific recollection of that event!!!   :spls:

http://www.svazzo.com/id8.html

The image is one that was sent to me as an example of Tutti Frutti by Martens for AVEM.

Craig

[TxSilver]

The Dino Martens attribution is very common, but I don't know if anyone can say if it is correct. One thing I haven't done is to write Marc Heiremans.  He is the leading authority on Martens, so may be able to give a definite yes or no. I don't pay much attention to how these pieces are listed on the internet because mistakes can repeat themselves. The tutti frutti pieces were made during the 1950-60s, a period when Martens was at Aureliano Toso, but they could have been based on an earlier design.

I love all these "maybe/maybe nots" in the art glass world!  :huh:

[obscurities]

I would be extremely interested in what he has to say if you have a way to get in contact with him him....  Maybe we have an opportunity to go a step further and put the issue to rest, one way or another... at least for some of us here.....

I agree with you..... about all of the maybe/maybe not.....  but if it was all known, what would we have to talk about??   

Craig

[Sandra]

Thank you to all who replied.

So then this is not a tutti frutti piece, whether by AVEM or another company?

I'm wondering if this could be a newer piece from China? The reason I say that is because there's very little wear on the bottom & the stem has a cross hatch pattern impressed into the glass. 

[Lustrousstone]

I would say it was from Murano, not China. Tutti frutti is a generic sort of term I suspect; in Italian it means all fruits, so I see no reason why your dish couldn't be described as tutti frutti even if it's not AVEM.

[TxSilver]

I wrote to Marc Heiremans today and received an answer about the AVeM tutti frutti pieces. I've included my and his emails below.

I wrote:
Hello from the USA. I own several of your books. They are very
helpful to me. Thank you so much for sharing your information with other
people. I am writing because of a question that we are discussing on
Angela Bowey's Glass Message Board. We often see the AVeM tutti frutti
pieces attributed to Dino Martens. These pieces have a scramble of cane
and latticino pieces in clear glass, often with silver foil. Do you know
if Dino Martens designed these pieces for AVeM? I have not seen anything
definite written that he participated in the design (or that he did not).
This question comes up often, so I thought it would be good to write to
you to try to find an answer. Thank you very much for your time.

Marc Heiremans answered:
Good afternoon,

Glad my books were/are of any asistance. That was their major goal....

These vases, sometimes also refered to as "end-of-the-day vases" have
nothing to do with Dino Martens, nor any important factory
on Murano. To my regret, I have to inform you that they are totally
unsignificant.

Best regards, Marc Heiremans.