Architecture, Art, and Craftsmanship: 3 Must-See Exhibitions This Autumn
from paris to london
In autumn 2025, three unmissable exhibitions invite you to explore the shifting boundaries between architecture, art, and craftsmanship. From Paris to London, the cultural season offers a fruitful dialogue between contemporary creation, decorative heritage, and architectural experimentation. These events are aimed at both art lovers and professionals in design and architecture. Here are three exhibitions you shouldn’t miss.
Gerhard Richter at the Fondation Louis Vuitton: the majesty of pictorial matter
Dates: October 17, 2025 – March 2, 2026
Location: Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris
With over sixty years of career, Gerhard Richter is one of the major artists of the 20th century. At the Fondation Louis Vuitton, an exceptional retrospective brings together some 270 works, in a scenography designed to offer a comprehensive overview of his multifaceted work. Abstract paintings, photographic works, glass sculptures, and monumental installations resonate together to better understand the aesthetic and philosophical evolution of an artist who has always sought to push the boundaries of the pictorial medium.
What strikes about Richter is his ability to combine formal rigor with material freedom. His abstractions, in particular, find an unexpected resonance in the world of design and contemporary decoration. The play of textures, layering, blurring, or scraping effects evoke dense and vibrant surfaces similar to those found, for example, in certain high-end leathers. The deep textures of his canvases can recall the refined finishes of Norki leathers, where each material seems sculpted by light.
This exhibition is a major event not only for contemporary art lovers but also for creators seeking visual and tactile sources of inspiration. It highlights the almost artisanal relationship Richter has with his materials — a relationship where gesture, accident, and trace are as important as the final result.
1925 – 2025 Centenary of Art Deco at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs
Dates: October 21, 2025 – late March 2026
Location: Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris
On the occasion of the centenary of the 1925 International Exhibition of Decorative Arts, the Musée des Arts Décoratifs offers a fascinating dive into the world of Art Deco. More than just a style, Art Deco represents a rare balance between art, craftsmanship, and architecture, embodying an elegant modernity that has left a lasting mark on the 20th-century aesthetic landscape.
The exhibition highlights the richness of this movement through an exceptional selection of furniture, art objects, jewelry, textiles, as well as architectural plans, drawings, models, and period photographs. Emblematic names such as Ruhlmann, Lalique, Rateau, and Leleu are featured alongside lesser-known figures who contributed to this creative effervescence.
What makes this retrospective particularly relevant today is that it restores the importance of know-how. At a time when the value of handcrafted work is being rediscovered, Art Deco resonates strongly. It testifies to a moment when designers, cabinetmakers, glassmakers, and architects worked hand in hand with the goal of creating a total art.
The exhibition also questions how Art Deco shaped interiors, everyday objects, and even the identity of major cities like Paris, New York, and Casablanca. It is both an aesthetic and cultural journey that will delight lovers of architecture, design, and heritage.
Bartlett Autumn Show 2025: the future of architecture on display in London
Dates: September 23 – October 5, 2025
Location: UCL Bartlett School of Architecture, Bloomsbury, London – and online
Every autumn, the Bartlett School of Architecture (UCL) transforms its studios into a vast gallery of architectural, artistic, and technological innovations. The 2025 edition of the Bartlett Autumn Show brings together over 400 student projects covering a wide spectrum: architecture, urban planning, computational design, landscape architecture, architectural film, video games, and more.
What sets this exhibition apart is its experimental dimension. Here, there are no fixed forms or dusty concepts: the Bartlett is a laboratory where tomorrow’s architectural languages are invented. The projects often combine narrative, technology, ecology, and social engagement. Augmented reality, 3D printing, generative AI, and biomimicry coexist with very concrete concerns such as housing, energy transition, or the post-carbon city.
Accessible both online and on-site in Bloomsbury, the exhibition offers international access to these bold proposals. It is a rare opportunity to see how young generations of architects envision their profession in a rapidly changing world. For professionals and curious visitors alike, the Bartlett Autumn Show offers an inspiring overview of what architecture could be in 10 or 20 years.
Why these three exhibitions are essential
Each of these exhibitions explores, in its own way, the intersection between art, architecture, and craftsmanship. Gerhard Richter, a major figure in contemporary art, invites us to rethink our relationship to matter and surface. The Art Deco centenary celebrates the elegance and rigor of a style where every object, every piece of furniture is also a work of art. The Bartlett Autumn Show, for its part, projects us toward the future of architectural creation, with young, bold, and often radical visions.
By visiting these three exhibitions, you traverse a whole spectrum of creation — past, present, and future. They reflect a world where disciplines dialogue, challenge each other, and transform. At a time when boundaries between visual arts, design, architecture, and craftsmanship are increasingly porous, these exhibitions remind us how interdisciplinarity can be a source of richness and inspiration.
An art boutique not to be missed in Paris
At 6 Rue de Seine, in the 6th arrondissement, the Left Bank is enhanced by the storefront of the Norki boutique. Scandinavian designer furniture, as well as the latest 2025 collection by Sonia Linard, CEO and artistic director of Maison Norki — rugs, throws, cushions, seating made in France — are displayed in the Paris gallery.
An architecture and design office is at your disposal for all your custom requests — from rugs to complete interior decoration.
