Les Ateliers Courbet will unveil Venini and Tadao Ando’s latest collaboration opening a series of three consecutive unveiling events presenting the "On-Going Dialogues between the Architects and Masters" exhibition. New pieces from the Objets d’Art collection of French architect, Michel Amar will be the highlight, presenting the collaboration between Amar and Les Marbreries de Seine and the Chapon foundry in Paris. Black Belt, Peter Marino's highly-anticipated series of Venini art glass, will be introduced as well.

This group-exhibition presents a unique opportunity to examine the creative dialogue between architects and master-craftsmen through three idiosyncratic and recognizable creative signatures. The exhibition of the Cosmos collection by Tadao Ando and Venini at Les Ateliers Courbet follows its worldwide unveiling at Venini's new Tokyo flagship store on October 6, 2017. The Japanese architect began collaborating with Venini in 2011 when he designed the Time series for its 90th anniversary. These glassworks punctuate his vast architectural repertoire, which includes single-family homes, cultural institutions and religious structures, and also spawned Venini’s expansion into foreign markets.

Cosmos delineates Ando’s evolution as a designer of art glass. Pure geometric lines offer a variety of compositions and installations resulting in an entire collection that brilliantly manifests the philosophical nature of Ando’s work. With the pieces configured together a spherical shape emerges through the ‘nothingness’—the Buddhist concept that abounds in the contemporary architect’s structural designs—and the Cosmos appears as suspended in time and place. Light glistens against the smooth glass surfaces and Ando creates a sacred moment in which the viewer contemplates the universe we inhabit.

The second exhibition space will feature Objets d’Art by Michel Amar. Known for discretion, the highly-lauded French architect receives public recognition for his hand-picked hospitality and commercial projects, such as the Hotel Elysée and Restaurant Il Vino in Paris. His acute awareness of material, volume and proportion permeates the collection, for which he partnered with La Fonderie Chapon and Les Marbreries de la Seine to bring to life. Referencing both nature and personal experiences, the works are produced primarily in limited editions but may be customized in a range of materials, colors, and sizes.

An homage to his wife, the Carole (limited edition of 8) is a table that combines masculine materials with a sensual silhouette. The round tabletop can be ordered in wood, glass or stone. The Giverny set of tables—inspired by Monet’s famed garden—can stand alone or in tandem as a group. The concentric circles on the Giverny bases emanate outwards, evoking the gentle movement of a waterlily on rippling water. Bûche, Amar’s playful interpretation of a natural wood log, is a well-proportioned occasional table carved from a single piece of marble. The singularity of its form loosely recalls Donald Judd’s minimalist designs in which form and material are one and the same. The final furniture design is Le Royal coffee table. Comprised of two individual parts, it offers multiple configurations and purposes. Side-by-side it is a coffee table; apart, they are two low benches; stacked, they form a two- part console.

The lighting in the collection features two sconces and three table lamps. The Stay Lamp and the Bast Applique filter soft light through hand-carved white onyx. Conversely, Cesar Applique bursts light through a fragmented design, appearing as at the verge of combustion. The Azoth Lamp trio draw their inspiration from Dumas' "The Three Musketeers." Depicted below, they may be customized in a number of materials and sizes. Also featured will be the Amar and Yulia vases. Produced in limited editions of 50, each vase can be made in different marbles.