Barovier&Toso, a long-established artistic glassworks based on the Venetian island of Murano and founded in 1925, has always been active in the high-end lighting sector, in which it is a leader in terms of product variety, manufacturing quality, style and innovation.
Barovier&Toso works with leading lighting professionals to offer customers the best possible solution for their needs. The company's creations have been chosen by the biggest names in luxury and haute couture (Louis Vuitton, Dolce & Gabbana, Cartier, to name but a few) to make their showrooms around the world special. Barovier&Toso works regularly with the world's leading hotel chains (Four Seasons, Marriot, Hyatt, Ritz-Carlton) and leading interior architects.
Murano's glassmaking tradition is the benchmark for innovative and original ideas, solutions and designs
We interviewed Architect Sara Pedrali, Head of Barovier&Toso's Style department, who is responsible, together with her colleagues, for the design of all new products in the catalogue, the production of the catalogues themselves and the design of products for special customers.
“Anything that needs more careful attention in terms of style comes through our office," says Architect Pedrali.
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Barovier&Toso's continuous research for the best alternative technologies to support product development activities led to the discovery of 3D. This, in turn, led to the design and visualisation, more rapidly and with less effort, of virtual prototypes similar to the original. “We needed a programme that would allow us to design complex shapes rapidly," says the architect.
The technologies identified to meet this type of need are: Autodesk Fusion 360, an easy and intuitive software for designing virtual prototypes, and Autodesk VRED for presenting products in interactive environments and for the advanced instant visualisation of three-dimensional models.
Architect Pedrali describes how he became involved in 3D technology: “Since I started working here twelve years ago, I had always used a drawing programme that I found cumbersome when it came to rendering products. Although I had taken courses in an attempt to make better use of the old software's rendering system, I still could not find a quick solution to my problems.
It was difficult for us at the Style department to render what a handcrafted product like the chandelier is like on a CAD drawing,” the architect continues.
”This problem has been solved by using Autodesk Fusion 360, which enables us to model the objects, just like the master would do in the furnace, and render them much faster, allowing us to have an image to show the client much earlier than before.
Another difficulty encountered with the old software was the inability to show the customer how the product would look installed in their room or with colour variations. Today, thanks to Autodesk's VRED technology, we can run numerous tests and provide multiple options to the client, very rapidly indeed," concludes Arch. Pedrali.
The architect says: “Thanks to the technologies put in place, we have more than halved the time required for implementation and execution. We are also able to design elements with very special shapes that were very hard to do before. Another important factor: since we have been using Autodesk solutions, we have been able to give the customer the opportunity to see the product in its setting immediately, thereby gaining enthusiastic approval for the design project!"
The Venetian company currently owns some licences for Autodesk Fusion 360 and Autodesk VRED. All the pieces in the new collection were designed using 3D technologies.
In order to keep abreast of the times, reduce the time required for the design phases and meet customer requirements – which are becoming ever more particular and specific – the use of three-dimensional software is a compulsory step for product analysis and design.
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