The 40 years of the place, the 20 years of career!
2020 will be a strong year in which we will celebrate 40 years of the international glass Art Center. On this occasion, an exhibition will be dedicated to Robert Pierini, master glassmaker and founder of the gallery with his wife Francine. 40 unique works will be presented exclusively to trace the 40 years of the career of the artist. A second exhibition will be dedicated to Antoine Pierini to celebrate his 20 years of career. His new installation « Objet du Voyage » will be presented in preview.
Enlargement of the gallery
Antoine and Gaëlle Pierini begin plans to enlarge the gallery. 6 months of work that will open an additional floor to expose the various guest and resident glass artists and the latest creations of Antoine Pierini. This floor, thought as a laboratory, offers a design space and a lounge where visitors can take the time to admire the work of the master glassmaker.
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.