Dante Marioni was born in 1964 in Mill Valley, California. In the mid 1980s, he studied glassblowing at the Pilchuck School in Stanwood, Washington where he met his mentor, Maestro Lino Tagliapietra. His work is strongly influenced in its form by the Venetian tradition, yet has a distinctive style all its own. By the late 1980s, he was exhibiting in major galleries and museums such as the Bellevue Art Museum in Washington and the American Craft Museum in New York. In 2008, Marioni was honored with a solo exhibition at the Museum of Glass in Tacoma Washington. His works are found in major collections and museums throughout the world, including the Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, New York; the Chrysler Museum in Norfolk Virginia; the New Zealand National Museum of Art; the Smithsonian in Washington, DC; and the Yokohama Museum of Art in Japan.