In 2010, around the time Vernon and Shirley Hill opened Metro Bank PLC in London, the Philadelphia banker and his designer wife were making another investment across Europe: They bought a minority stake in Seguso Vetri D’Arte, a hand-blown lighting and art-glass company in Venice’s ancient Murano glassmaking district.
With Metro Bank, the Hills were taking on established British banks, building an aggressive new lender that’s now worth $4 billion. With Seguso, the mission is different: The Hills aimed to rebuild a brand in partnership with a family that traces its foundry back 23 generations, to 1397.
