‘The club is the place where everything is possible’: this Paris Design Week exhibition is conceived as a disco

The idea for the exhibition ‘Design Disco Club’, part of Lafayette Anticipations (on view until 12 September 2025) during Paris Design Week 2025, came about because Christopher Dessus was looking for a place to launch the second edition of his design magazine, JTM. The team at Lafayette Anticipations, which is known for holding solo shows of young contemporary artists, told him that it wasn’t doing an exhibition at the time and proposed that he do something – with full creative control.

Dessus, who likes to put on shows that don’t align with what spaces are known for (he did a design show at the Pavillion d’Arsenal, which usually hosts shows on urbanism and urban design), started thinking about doing something in reference to a club. 'To me,' Dessus says, 'the club is the place where everything is possible.'

The inspiration for the show is the song ‘Disco Inferno’ by The Trammps. 'That song has the manner of poetry and politics in the question of being open-minded,' Dessus says, 'in a context and in a society where there are an enormous number of things that don’t work.' It is the spirit of disco that Dessus hoped would translate for the designers. 'Beyond music,' he says, 'disco is a state of mind – the avant-garde, trying to search for that which doesn’t already exist, with elements or references from the past.' He noted that disco was a time of global turmoil, but also one when people chose to have fun while not accepting the state of the world.

Design Disco Club: 30 emerging designers embodying an avant-garde spirit

Finding the designers was the easy part for Dessus, who had another magazine before JTM. Some, like Pauline Bailay and Hugo Poirier of Studio Poirier Bailay, met him years ago, but others, like Laurids Gallée, only had a vague idea of the magazine – the first contact Gallée had with Dessus was from an email sent by the latter.

The 30 designers participating were given free rein to present whatever they wanted (some fashion items from Marine Serre, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Dior and Mugler are also on view). For Petite Friture founder Amélie du Passage, showing a daybed, a bench and an ottoman from her ‘Eclipse’ collection, her works’ use of curved aluminium reflects the dance aspect of disco.

But for Poirier Bailay, whose vases made of glass, wood and metal include webs of pompons, the ornamentation is what relates to the theme: Poirier says the aim was 'to create something not flashy, but references a bit of fireworks and a festive spirit'.

The exhibition takes place over two floors, and is presented as a completely dark environment, with spotlights on the works that don’t already light up themselves. Some works, like Lambert et Fils’ lamps, are suspended from the ceiling. For Gallée, the idea that his poison-green matte-finished resin light are being shown in the dark is exciting. 'When you walk around, the light reflects differently from each angle, so the piece is constantly changing,' Gallée says. 'It has a psychedelic effect.'

The programme for the week includes talks from various figures in the design world about the future of the industry, and a musical performance by Bonnie Banane; workshops on materials and trends. 'The idea is to have the richest selection possible,' Dessus says. His aim for the exhibition and programme is to open the eyes of people not in the design world to all its possibilities.

9 rue du Plâtre, 75004
Until 12 September 2025, 11am – 7pm