Antoine Pierini is a master glassmaker, designer and glass artist.
Born in 1980 in Antibes, on the French Riviera, he lives and works in the village of Biot, a traditional hub for glassmaking. Raised by a mother committed to environmental activism and a father who pioneered the French incarnation of the Studio Glass Movement. Antoine was exposed to the small world of master glassmakers from the earliest age.
He learned the fundamentals of glassblowing and how to handle the molten material at the family studio in Biot, established 21 years ago in an old oil mill, where he has been pursuing his passion since 2005.
Antoine has gone on to hone his expertise and experience through further training in fusing, casting, filigree, murrine, engraving, figurative sculpture, neon, plasma and vitreography, along with residencies and installations in artists’ workshops, museums (MusVerre Sars Poterie in France, Museum Of Glass in Tacoma, USA) and international art centres (Pilchuck, USA, Cesty Skla Ways of Glass, Czech Republic, and Niijima Glass Art Center, Japan).
Travel and encounters with the leading lights of the glass world led him to develop his own approach to contemporary glass, conveyed through his accumulations and installations. His projects have also involved collaborations with electricians, marble craftsmen and metalworkers.
The style of his pieces stems in large part from the search for clean, sparing design, in keeping with nature and inspired by the creations of Constantin Brancusi, in terms of their fundamental form, and Arman, for his ability to cast objects in a new light.
Antoine Pierini’s international influence includes collective exhibitions at an array of venues around the globe, along with permanent exhibitions at GlasMuseum Lette in Germany and the Museum of Classical Art in Mougins, France.
He has also expanded his studio in Biot to create the Pierini International Glass Art Center, which seeks to promote the art of glassmaking both locally and around the world, and is part of the Ateliers d’Art de France network. The larger location also provides residencies for artists, who can use the premises to show their work and share their expertise.
STATEMENT
Antoine Pierini draws inspiration from the long legacy of the Mediterranean, the natural elements and Greco-Roman culture. He combines the time-honored art of glassmaking with modern methods to create a contemporary reinterpretation of archaeological remnants in the shape of amphoras. Pierini reveals an ambivalent nature that is remarkable in its beauty yet also puzzling and proliferative. The artist conjures a dreamlike vision of the Mediterranean that reflects Albert Camus’ Pensée de Midi, weaving essential ties between people and their solar surroundings. In a display of glassmaking prowess punctuated with irony, he explores the issue of how to live in the light without ever lapsing into “tepid thought”.