Showroom extension
Antoine and Gaëlle start their project to extend the showroom. Visitors can now see the whole history of this family of artists unfold through a retrospective dedicated to Robert Pierini’s artwork. A new ‘V.I.P. room’ will welcome art lovers and collectors in the best conditions.
Flooding in Biot and destruction of the studio
In October 2015, the studio was drowned after a violent storm. A wave of mud hurtled down the hill on which the village of Biot stands and completely sunk the hotshop of Pierini Verre Contemporain. After six months of renovation work, Pierini celebrates the reopening of the studio at the occasion of an event called ‘Renaissance’. With over 200 attendants, the gallery is on the rise again.
Company Handover
Antoine and his wife Gaëlle take over the management and the development of the family business. In fact, this transmission has not changed a thing in the daily life of this solid family, who shares a passion for glass art. Thus, naturally, Robert is still working side by side with his son Antoine and with the in situ artists.
Travels and artistic exchanges
Travels and artistic exchanges
Exchange and transmission are keywords for Antoine and Ro-bert Pierini. Their respective travels through the United States of America, Japan, and Europe contributed to the development of the fame of their name and of their artistic savoir-faire. These encounters lead them to create an artist-in-residence program aiming to invite foreign artist and to allow them to produce seve-ral artworks to be exhibited in their showroom.
Antoine tames the material
Antoine takes his first steps, he starts taming the material. Attracted and fascinated by his father’s work, he starts using the pipe, the wood block, the shears. What can seem dangerous to us is merely the prolongation of a family’s inheritance, from which he has been a part since the day he was born.
Robert Pierini gives a new pride of place to mouth-blown glass. His work is exhibited in many galleries around the world. He represents French glass art in French embassies overseas. For him, what matters is not to follow trends but to create a dream in the space of glass.
Birth of Antoine Pierini
Robert and Francine Pierini acquire the mill in Biot in 1980, and give birth to Antoine the same year. Thus, he grew up in this exceptional location and he has seen his father at work from the earliest days. Protective and careful, Robert installs the high chair and the playpen by his side in the studios.
Acquisition of the mill
Since the beginning, Robert Pierini has seen the potential of this magic place. Together with his wife Francine, well-known environmentalist of the Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur region, they bring this old olive oil mill back to life. Inside the showroom, original cut stones from the 15th centu-ry still occupy their initial location, as well as the millstone.