Walter Furlan was born in 1931 in Chioggia, a small town near Venice. He started to work in a furnace very early. He apprenticed from one of the most famous glass masters on the island, Romano Tosi, better known as “Mamaracio”. Towards the end of the second world war (1940-1945) Master Walter Furlan learnt the particular technique called “a massello” (i.e. he learned how to shape a quantity of glass stuff that was not blown and therefore quite difficult to handle). In 1963 he exhibited his works of art in the official Glass Display on Murano Island sponsored by the Venetian Institute for Work and later on in Arts and Crafts Exhibition in Reggio Calabria. At the beginning of the 70’s he cooperated with Master Angelo Seguso and designer Mario Pinsoni in the glass factory “Seguso Art Glass” . He studied how to work overwhelmed and stylized glass and he definitely developed his own style.

Furlan was given permission by Picasso himself to interpret his paintings during his Cubic Period thereby giving them a third dimension within his glass sculptures. He was also given license to carry on using his name after Picasso's death in 1973.