I was thinking about hanging grand chandeliers over the canals of Venice. I thought, why not go to four countries with great glass traditions and blow chandeliers with both American glassblowers and glass masters from each of the countries? In the end the chandeliers, made from thousands of individual parts and representing the work of hundreds of glassblowers, would be sent to Venice, the Wizard of the Sea, the most mysterious and secretive city of all. —Chihuly