Corten steel is a magnificent paradox: it becomes indestructible by exposing itself to the elements. Its deep patina, with shades of amber, bronze and burnt earth, forms a natural armour that protects the heart of the metal for decades. No paint. No maintenance. Just time, working for you.

But at Cortenys, we do not make you wait for beauty. Every piece leaves our manufacture already dressed in its patina: awakened, nourished and brought to maturity by our artisans, through a savoir-faire that belongs to the House and will remain its secret. Where raw steel would take months, sometimes years, to find its robe, a Cortenys creation arrives with you in the depth of its most beautiful shades, from the first day. We do not describe that gesture. We deliver it.

Then that patina becomes yours. It continues to live with your climate, your light, the orientation of your garden, every rain and every summer. Two creations leaving our manufacture on the same day will become, in two collectors' homes, two different pieces. That is why we say there will never be two identical Cortenys pieces: born in our workshops, your patina will continue with you in an evolution no one else in the world will possess.

This is the material chosen by the great contemporary sculptors for their monumental works, and celebrated by exceptional architecture on every continent. Cortenys brings it within your reach, without ever betraying it.

Some of our creations also exist in architectural aluminium, finely textured and finished in colour: a different, more graphic language for spaces that call for a precise shade and a timeless line.

The Corten patina can live freely, or be suspended at its height. It is one of the most personal choices the House offers, and it belongs to you.

The free patina. Your piece continues to evolve with the seasons, deepening its nuances year after year. This is Corten in its truth: a metal that ages as beautiful things age, by gaining character.

The sealed patina. For those who wish to fix the moment, the House offers a varnished finish across all its Corten creations, applied in the manufacture. Two varnishes, with distinct appearances, are offered at the time of order. Applied over the matured patina, they seal its depth at the exact state to which our artisans have brought it, durably enhance the metal's robe, and protect pale floors and terraces from the natural transfers of the patina. Your piece remains, for a long time, exactly as you chose it.

Free patina or sealed patina: there is no better choice. There is yours.

Cortenys does not edit garden objects. Every creation of the House begins as a drawing: a line, a proportion, a presence, worked at length before the metal is touched. Only then comes function: water, fire, vegetation. Our collections evolve constantly: new drawings are born each season, some join the permanent collections, others will exist only as limited editions, then disappear forever.

Every Corten creation is offered with a free patina or a sealed patina, according to your chosen finish.

A house that edits everything, all the time, in unlimited quantity, does not create pieces: it produces references. Cortenys made the opposite choice. Part of our creations exists only in limited runs, announced from the first day, and never exceeded.

Signature Editions. Our most radical creations are edited in very small numbers: sometimes ten examples worldwide, sometimes fewer. Every piece is numbered. When the last piece of a Signature Edition finds its place, the design is withdrawn forever: it will never be reissued, in any material, in any form. To own a Signature Edition is to own one of the only examples that will ever exist.

Collection Editions. Other creations are edited in controlled series, from a few hundred to two thousand examples depending on the design. Here too, the run is announced and definitive. Enough for the creation to live; never enough for it to become ordinary.

The number of your piece belongs to you. It makes your acquisition what it truly is: not the purchase of an object, but the entry of a work into a story, yours.

At Cortenys, no warehouse overflows with pieces waiting. No creation sleeps for months on a shelf, exposed to impacts, stagnant humidity and the alterations that inevitably affect metal stored in quantity. We made a radical choice, one few houses have the courage to uphold: nothing is made before it is destined for someone.

Your order is the birth certificate of your piece. It sets the metal in motion: cutting, forming, welds, the awakening of the patina by our artisans, checks, packaging designed to protect every edge. Every step is accomplished for you, at the right moment, so your creation leaves the manufacture in its most perfect state: intact, precise, its patina brought to maturity, ready to continue with you, and nowhere else, the life begun in our workshops.

That choice has a price, and we accept it: time. Depending on the creations and the seasons, several weeks separate your order from your delivery, and certain periods of high demand may extend that delay. We could produce in advance, store, ship in three days. We refuse. An exceptional piece is not stocked: it is brought into being.

During that time, your piece is the only thing our artisans work on for you. And on the day it arrives, you do not receive a parcel taken from a rack: you welcome a creation that existed only to reach you.

Beautiful things are not waited for. They are announced.

Every Cortenys creation is born twice. First in France, where our drawings take shape: line, proportion, presence. Then in our partner manufacture, at the heart of European metallurgy, chosen for its intransigence on material, welding and finish. The French line, the European hand of steel: from this alliance come pieces designed for the eye and made for generations.