Architects, Interior Designers, Hotels: This Collaboration Perfectly Illustrates How Milodina Orchestrates Bespoke Murano Glass Projects from the First Creative Intention to the Final Delivered Piece. Let’s Discuss Your Project.
It all began with an unusual request: transforming an ancestral Venetian jewelry-making technique into an architectural decorative piece. To learn more about this original commission, discover our bespoke staircase finials.
Using the remaining raw material, the murrines, Marc Hertrich, interior architect at MHNA, and Milodina went on to create two tableware pieces that have since become part of the house’s creative identity. This is the story of that encounter: a dialogue between craftsmanship and design, partially captured in the TF1 documentary feature dedicated to Michèle Richer, founder of Milodina. (Feel free to request the link to this report.)
Two Worlds, One Shared Vision
Michèle Richer is not merely a distributor of glass. Trained as an interior architect, she is above all an ambassador of a centuries-old savoir-faire. For more than 26 years, she has built enduring relationships with the master glassmakers of Murano Island, Italy. This deep expertise and intimate knowledge form the very foundation of Milodina’s identity.
Marc Hertrich, meanwhile, is one of the most respected interior designers of his generation. As partner of MHNA, the studio he co-founded with Nicolas Adnet, he is known for hotel and residential projects where elegance is always inseparable from storytelling. For this tableware collaboration, however, he joined the adventure in a solo capacity, driven by a clear vision: to explore the decorative potential of an authentic Murano finish and deploy it within a contemporary signature design language.
The Spark: A Black-and-White Murrine Necklace
The story began with a jewel.
One of Marc Hertrich’s clients discovered at Milodina a Murano murrine pendant those iconic slices of patterned glass so characteristic of the Venetian island. She was immediately drawn to its black-and-white palette: the sobriety, the geometry, the balance, the chromatic precision.
But her request went far beyond jewelry.
She wished to reinterpret that exact finish on the staircase finials of her residence bringing Murano glass into the domestic architecture, at hand level, where every ascent becomes a tactile encounter.
Marc Hertrich instantly recognized the creative potential of the idea and contacted Michèle Richer. The collaboration was born.
“The world of Murano glass is associated with extremely varied and colorful creations, wonderfully joyful in spirit. Here, I wanted to imagine and propose a collection made of black-and-white murrines, for a certain sobriety, with a unique rendering that remains deeply artisanal. Glasses and plates full of charm, dressing the table with elegance.”
— Marc Hertrich, Studio MHNA
Bespoke Staircase Finials: The Birth of a Technique
To bring this custom project to life, Michèle Richer mobilized her Murano glass artisans. The murrine technique — traditionally reserved for jewelry or small decorative objects — was here applied on an entirely unusual scale.
The result was striking: sober, radical, unexpected.
These architectural elements became objects of fascination and admiration in their own right. Part of this realization was filmed during TF1’s documentary report dedicated to Michèle Richer and the Milodina adventure a media recognition of the singularity of this craftsmanship.
TF1 Documentary Feature
The TF1 documentary illustrating part of this collaboration is available upon request directly from Milodina. Please feel free to contact us to receive the viewing link.
Nothing Is Wasted: The Birth of CALICE & PIATTO
Inside the glassmaker’s workshop, nothing is lost.
Once the staircase finials were completed, a small reserve of murrines remained. Every piece of this carefully produced raw material seemed destined for another form.
At that precise moment, Marc Hertrich revealed his full creative instinct.
Rather than allowing this excess to remain unused, he imagined two tableware pieces extending the black-and-white aesthetic into another universe — that of dining, conviviality, and the sublimation of daily rituals.
Two objects were born, conceived as a complementary duo:
Why This Collection Is Unique
In a market saturated with industrial objects, the CALICE & PIATTO collection embodies a radically different proposition.
Each piece is handcrafted, bespoke, in Murano workshops. Marc Hertrich deliberately moves away from the vivid color palettes traditionally associated with Venetian glass to propose a purified, contemporary, universally elegant monochrome language.
This collection is also rooted in a conscious economy of material: nothing was wasted, everything was reimagined. The murrines originally created for the architectural commission naturally found their extension in these table pieces. It is precisely this coherence — between the origin of the project, the artisanal gesture, and the final object — that gives CALICE & PIATTO its profound singularity.
Finally, Marc Hertrich’s signature — a designer whose hospitality projects are internationally referenced — brings to these objects a strong creative legitimacy and a patrimonial value.
These are not simply glasses and plates.
They are collectible pieces, born from a true story.
A story that perfectly demonstrates what Milodina does best: transforming an intention into an exceptional bespoke creation, without compromise.
Working on an Exceptional Project?
The Calice & Piatto collaboration was born from a singular request, translated into unique pieces thanks to Milodina’s network of Murano master glassmakers.
This is exactly what Milodina orchestrates for architects, interior designers, and luxury hotels seeking bespoke Murano glass creations: one dedicated interlocutor from concept to delivery.
Let’s discuss your project.
