Carlo Semenzato

A secluded yard overlooking the northern lagoon is home to the city’s last traditional foundry, Antica Fonderia Valese. Here, in a brick-walled workshop adorned with wood molds and vintage tools, Carlo Semenzato and his team craft works in brass, aluminum, and bronze using the ancient technique of sand casting. In the middle of the workshop, a domed furnace melts brass at 1200 degrees. The purified molten metal is poured into molds filled with a mix of unused and pre-used Fontainebleau sand. The practice of mixing the two in right proportions is guided more by experience than recipe.

Carlo, who started working at the foundry before turning 18, learned the craft over decades and eventually took over the business. Founded in 1913 by the Valese family, the foundry produces everything from intricate gondola ornaments to custom door knockers, statues, and chandeliers, blending functionality with Venetian artistry, pursuing classic lines––available in his shop in Calle Fiubera–– as much as custom commissions.

Casting day, usually Friday, is a ritual in itself. Ladling molten brass into molds of all shapes and sizes, hidden at the core of the wooden brackets surrounding the furnace, Carlo works with focused calm that seems counterintuitive to the heat and intensity of the material in his hands. All the while, his assistants position weights and clear spillage with swift gestures.

As the metal solidifies, the pieces are left to cool before Carlo begins the final phase, his favorite—hand-finishing and polishing each one. Carlo speaks of his work with humility, stating that he never stops learning while defining every fusion as like no other before––a learning curve time and time again.