Melanie Courbet Japanese culture and the ethos to respond it’s good to be close to and to be challenged by the naysayer

A space that contains multitudes. A gallery with exhibition programs aimed to highlight the work ethos and cultural legacy embodied in the objets and the work of the master craftsmen they represent. Founded in 2013 between Soho and Nolita and now part of the Chelsea roster of art galleries, Les Ateliers Courbet is the brainchild of Melanie Courbet.

Courbet represents master craftsmen and artists: contemporary Scandinavian leather goods, Tigerklo, Mongolian finest and environmentally sustainable cashmere (Oyuna, by Oyuna Tserendorj), a 400-year-old legacy of Japanese ceramicists (Asahiyaki), high-end yak wool goods from Tibet (Norlha). They coexist alongside old-world grandeur, as embodied by porcelain manufacture Sèvres, Viennese silverware Wiener Silber Manufactur, who made the dining sets for the Habsburg Royal Palace, and Italian glassmaker Venini. Courbet has to define what ties the craftsmen and artists she chooses to represent together.