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Giberto Arrivabene and Chahan Minassian: a Venetian oasis in Paris

The craftsmanship of Giberto Venezia at Chahan Gallery on the occasion of Maison&Objet. A Venetian oasis paying homage to the Lagoon as a source of inspiration.

by Marta Galli

When someone suggested Oscar Wilde retreat to Venice in search of peace and quiet, the English writer, terrified at the prospect of becoming a monument for tourists, didn't even consider the idea. And yet, in the Lagoon, a great many foreigners live in quiet seclusion in palazzi overlooking unrepeatable views. Chahan Minassian — interior designer and collector, founder of the Chahan Gallery — moved to the Serenissima just before the pandemic, making it his permanent base, though the centre of his activities remains Paris. In Venice he has curated an exhibition inside the Benedictine abbey of San Gregorio, designed Diane von Furstenberg's home, and at the end of 2024 debuted with his first collection for the historic textile maison Fortuny, for which he reimagined the company's spaces, transforming the villa that once belonged to Countess Gozzi into a three-floor house-showroom.

It was also in Venice that his friendship with Giberto Arrivabene Valenti Gonzaga, Venetian glass artist, took shape. His family has resided since the nineteenth century at Palazzo Papadopoli, one of the eight monumental palazzi overlooking the Canal Grande — known to most as the home of the Aman Venice hotel. His earliest memories are set here, among Tiepolo's paintings, and it is here that he still lives today with his wife Bianca di Savoia Aosta and their five children, four daughters and one son. «Venice suits my character, and when I am away, even for just a short while, I miss it — starting with its smell.»

Between long informal dinners and an ongoing creative exchange, sustained by mutual admiration and a deep elective affinity, the idea of a shared project was born. Oasi Veneziana, at the Chahan Gallery, opens on the occasion of Maison & Objet 2026 in Paris. In his space on the Rive Gauche, the Franco-Lebanese designer presents the collections signed Giberto Venezia and a new piece that seals their friendship.

A collaboration born from friendship

Today, collaborations increasingly seem to be dictated by market strategies; Giberto Arrivabene and Chahan Minassian distance themselves from this logic entirely. «Collaboration is a word I detest», says the latter, echoed by Giberto: «We are not businessmen — for us this is more about fun than business.»

Giberto Arrivabene, known privately as Gibi, began dedicating himself to the artisanal production of glass in the ancient furnaces of Murano when he realised he could no longer find the refined traditional sets his family had always used. It took very little for this private passion to become a brand — today with a flagship store on the Ponte di Rialto.

«It happened almost as a game: when friends broke a piece from their sets, they would come to me asking me to make a replica.» The next step was to begin designing originals, infused with a classic flair and the wisdom of Venetian glassblowers. There is a whole lineage of techniques — craquelé, rigatini, hand-engraved decorations echoing "the vertical lace of Venetian façades", as Joseph Brodsky once wrote — and silhouettes that unite simplicity and elegance.

In the wake of tradition, with a modern spirit

Once again, it was the glassware from home that provided the inspiration: an affective archive passed down through several generations. «All these pieces have become, quite naturally, part of my vocabulary», says Giberto Arrivabene.

«When you walk into Giberto's home, history is everywhere, and yet at the same time you sense that time has not stood still», recounts Chahan. «There are large silver trays filled with glasses: a compendium of glass forms, ranging from pink and orange to crystal. And yet it is not a museum. Those trays are in constant evolution: alongside inherited glasses you might find prototypes that Gibi has just brought back from the furnace and set down there. There are mismatched and assorted models, and everyone at the table has a different one — it is not an exercise in accumulation, but a kind of sprezzatura, a contemporary way of living.»

The first sketch of the installation conceived by Chahan sprang precisely from this vision, blending heritage and modernity in a joyful and opulent whole, anchored by monumental brutalist furniture that contrasts with the lightness and transparency of glass. «Giberto and I are like Yin and Yang. But as much as I am the modern one, what truly interests me is a modernity grounded in full respect for tradition — and that is exactly what I find in his work.»

In the eclectic space, born as an extension of Chahan's curatorial vision, where textures and materials layer upon one another, the display of glassware is a true rainbow. «And heaven knows how colourful I am», comments the designer. Among the glasses there is one they made together: Chahan Blue. «The idea came from Gibi, and in the end it all happened very quickly — we are both quite instinctive.»

Starting from one of the silhouettes found in the Giberto Venezia collections — «delicate yet solid at the same time, with very pleasing proportions» — the glass took on a chromatic note, a clin d'œil, as Chahan calls it, that draws it into the designer's universe: a deep, shifting sfumato blue, edged with a thin green line — like the sea of the Lagoon, muse to them both.

«Water is fundamental because it gives glass extraordinary reflections», says Giberto. «Glass is a capricious material, and to obtain exactly what you have in mind, perseverance is essential. But we persevere without ever ceasing to have fun — we take fun very seriously.»