Luisa has always belonged to the beads’ world. Already as a child, she used to help her uncle in his company which produced lampwork glass beads and, later, conterie, the tiny and colorful beads obtained by very thin glass sticks and particularly sought-after in the fashion industry. Together, they created and sold brooches, necklaces, earrings, and many other objects which went around the world, in addition to many fairs in Italy where, as she accompanied her uncle, pliers always in her hands, Luisa never stopped creating small rings or other tiny and precious jewels.

The years go by, and the call of tradition gets stronger, so Luisa opens her own business and, at the same time, organizes a series of events dedicated to the city. In 2007, she starts the “Feste delle Impiraresse,” unique events which narrate this art and when and how it is and it used to be practiced. Every edition is held in a picturesque location of the city and includes exhibitions, parades, and performances which keep the art of beads-threading alive through stories, anecdotes, and songs.

The passion for sharing the world of beads encourages Luisa to make an important decision: after years of wholesale, she chooses to focus on creativity, on handcraft, and on the development of her space. This is how the Spazio Gioia is born, taking the place of the former storage for the packaging and shipping of the beads. Now, Gioia is also a small museum, evocative and refined, with information boards narrating the universe of the impiraresse and of the beads, their origin, the steps of the production, the history of the families who have continued this tradition.

It is an exhibition space where one can admire the work’s tools, too. This way, it will be easy to picture the wise hands of the women as they work with the sessola (a kind of concave spoon used to pick the beads) or the palmeta, the fan of needles ready to arrange the beads in the marin, that is, the group pf strings on which the various tiny beads—the rosette, the macà or the conterie—are arranged.

Vintage photographs show the women seated outside, working near their house doors, maybe along a canal, talking as they created pieces which are unique in all world. Or else they show glimpses of working life, with the impiraresse aligned and ready to unleash their creativity.

Today, the art of impirar perle can be tried even by non professionals and children. Thanks to the past collaborations with the City of Venice, many children had the opportunity to bring home to their parents a piece crafted during a bead-making laboratory. Who knows, maybe there is a talent or a passion hidden behind all those tiny hands which have been plunged into the bowls of colorful beads. Something which may give rise to the will to continue a centennial tradition that, like many others in Venice, risks dying without a generational turnover.