In the gallery’s third presentation at Design Miami/, Ateliers Courbet brings together a selection of designers and craftsmen with a focus on a new collection, Topographic Memories. The collection is a limited series of hand-crafted pieces resulting from a three-year collaboration between the master artisans of Ateliers Saint-Jacques, the revered Fonderie de Coubertin, Israeli designer Raphael Navot and Ateliers Courbet. As part of the gallery’s dedication to the ongoing craftsmanship legacy of its ateliers, the collection is part of the Editions Courbet program which brings together master craftsmen and contemporary designers under the creative direction of gallery founder, Melanie Courbet.

The collection is the product of an in-depth dialogue between Navot, Ateliers Saint-Jacques, and Fonderie de Coubertin, the centuries-old French workshops, that carry on the crafts of stone carving and metalsmithing respectively. To emphasize the highly specialized techniques of the artisans, Navot chose materials that would be both highlighted and enhanced by the artisans’ carving, casting, and finishing expertise. The Topographic Memories collection manifests Navot’s longstanding fascination for traditional crafts and the essence and stories of raw materials. The collection includes tables in stone and bronze, and table lamps and pendants in bronze informed by Navot's ongoing exploration of topographies and the geological history of Earth, two enduring sources of inspiration for the designer.

Navot’s Topographic Memories editions expand upon the designer’s longstanding interest in the traditional crafts and cultural legacies carried on by the master artisans he often collaborates with. The collection is set in conversation with works by Raphael materialized by other craftsmen. The wood crafters at Oscar Ono collaborated with Navot on the Forêt collection of European oak end grain flooring inspired by Parisian cobblestones. Navot’s Moon sofa editions for Domeau Peres and his artist rug edition developed with the master weavers of Diurne are to be presented at Design Miami/.

The booth sets Navot’s design language in dialogue with other artists and artisans represented by the gallery. The presentation includes a selection of works from Mauro Mori’s solo exhibition at the gallery, Portraits, of hand-carved Albizia Rosa sculptural tables, the Listener, and Figlio di Audiface, along with the Listener in white limestone. A contemporary of Navots at Design Academy Eindhoven, Pieter Maes’ Palindrome brings together the wood crafting of Rutger Graas and the master upholstery of Jouffre. Smoked stoneware ceramics from French-based Karen Swami brings the artist’s exploration of texture, form, and materiality in her vessels. A Bronze Contour side table from Bodo Sperlein’s latest exhibition with the gallery emphasizes the consistent visual and tactile sensuality in the designer’s vocabulary as the dual bronze finish highlights the movements and folds of the works.