Following a preview at Maison & Objet Paris in January, Lady Deirdre Dyson's 'Mélange' rug collection has now arrived at her flagship Paris gallery, and will land very soon at the London gallery too.

True to its name – ‘mélange’ denoting a mixture of different and often incongruous things – the collection is wonderfully varied and unpredictable. Rather than pursuing a single overarching theme, as Dyson typically does, she has embraced pure creative spontaneity.

The collection comprises seven distinct carpet designs, each entirely self-contained yet united by a shared spirit of play and wit. That spirit is expressed through a language of geometric and kaleidoscopic forms, and a palette rooted in warm taupe neutrals punctuated by burgundy, purple and burnt orange.

'I decided to move away from any preset objective and relied entirely on a random design process from ideas that just popped into my head,' says Dyson. 'There are references to past works using overlays and floating shapes, while some carpets appear figurative and others more angular and geometric. What did become evident is that the designs are characteristically mine.'

'Crystal' features a jagged graphic border evoking refracting light, punctuated by black silk highlights. 'Safari' plays with dramatic vertical frequency-like lines broken by earthy two-tone stripes. 'Triptych' and 'Moulin' share a centrifugal energy – the former setting animal-print triangles in burnt orange and camel against grey; the latter layering transparent triangles over a rich burgundy and purple ground.

'Glassy Greens' conjures the illusion of floating shelves rendered in delicate sea-green silks, each balancing a contrasting rectangular form. 'Pouch', true to its name, is a tactile, curved design with a fluid silk outline in layered taupe neutrals that lends it an almost three-dimensional quality. Rounding out the collection, 'O' is a purely geometric study in 100 per cent wool, in which overlapping rectangles, squares and circles are enlivened by an accent of deep framboise.

Most designs incorporate fine silk woven alongside Goodweave-certified Tibetan wool, handcrafted by Nepalese artisans. All pieces are made to measure, tailored to individual specification and available across a broad spectrum of colours – a fitting final note for a collection that, in Dyson's words, she hopes offers 'something for everyone'.

Deidre Dyson galleries are at 554 King’s Road, London SW6 2DZ; and 12 Rue des Saints-Pères, 75007 Paris

The latest edition of Maison & Objet, Paris’ biannual homes and interiors fair, ran from 15 to 19 January 2026 at Paris Nord Villepinte, filling hall after hall with premium brands, innovative concepts and emerging talent across furniture, décor and lifestyle. The Wallpaper* team was on the ground to explore the breadth of the fair, from its headline exhibitions to an extensive programme of immersive experiences.

This edition's theme, ‘Past Reveals Future’, set the tone for a narrative celebrating the relationship between enduring craftsmanship and contemporary innovation. Here, the past was not treated as a static archive but as a living source of inspiration, continually shaping the future of design. These are our five highlights of Maison & Objet 2026.

Harry Nuriev named Designer of the Year

Russian-born architect, designer, artist and creative director Harry Nuriev was awarded Designer of the Year by Maison & Objet. He is known for his cross-disciplinary practice, which blurs the boundaries between architecture, interiors, furniture, art and fashion.

Nuriev is the founder and creative force behind Crosby Studios, a multidisciplinary practice delivering more than thirty projects annually across retail, fashion, hospitality and cultural institutions. His approach, described as ‘Transformism’, reimagines everyday objects and interiors as conceptual design and art. Operating as a ‘design anthropologist’, Nuriev offers a singular response to a world saturated with images, data and ideas.

Curatio

Returning after a successful debut, Curatio took the form of a collectible design village curated by German designer Thomas Haarmann. This gallery-style environment presented a journey through 60 works championing the ‘art of rarity’, with unique and limited-edition pieces designed for high-end interiors, restaurants, hotels and retail spaces. Haarmann’s distinctive aesthetic – balancing refined brutality with human sensitivity – shaped the narrative throughout.

Village Manufactures d’Excellence

A new addition to the fair, this space was dedicated to French savoir-faire and craftsmanship. Presented within a reimagined baroque scenography, it showcased the elegance of French artisanal excellence, with fourteen EPV-labelled houses ('Entreprises du Patrimoine Vivant', or 'Living Heritage Companies') in attendance.

In Materia

Conceived by style expert and trend forecaster Elizabeth Leriche, ‘In Materia’ offered a sensory exploration of raw materials – wood, fibre, glass, clay and stone – through unique and limited-edition works. Structured around four themes – ‘Germa’, ‘Terra’, ‘Fusio’ and ‘Crypta’ – the installation celebrated material transformation, the poetry of craftsmanship and the power of the human hand.

Outdoor Living and Eco-Materials Corner

Expanding the fair’s scope, these areas addressed the growing importance of responsible creation. ‘Outdoor Living’ reinvented exterior spaces as true extensions of the home, with 50 international brands presenting innovative lighting, furniture, pergolas and architectural solutions. Meanwhile, the 'Eco-Materials Corner' functioned as a laboratory for sustainable finishes and materials, demonstrating how environmental responsibility can coexist with contemporary design innovation.

Retrospection at Paris Design Week

Anna Solomon, digital staff writer

It’s Paris Design Week, and across the city the doors of showrooms and ateliers have been thrown open, revealing brands’ 2026 collections. I spent a highly condensed day criss-crossing arrondissements and dipping in and out of studios (I comfortably hit my 10,000 steps – let’s leave it at that). Several clearly emerging design trends stood out: a growing emphasis on versatility and customisability to suit the demands of modern life (something I also observed at Feria Hábitat València back in October), alongside a sort of creeping nostalgia. From renewed interest in craft and artisanal traditions to a wave of heritage reissues, the past is very much informing the present. You can read all of my insights here.

A new voice emerges

Charlotte Gunn, director of digital content

This week I’ve been listening to ‘Not Today’, the new single from Kim Gordon’s upcoming third solo album, Play Me, out on 13 March. More melodic – dare I say poppier? – than her recent work, Gordon says of the track: ‘I started singing in a way I hadn’t sung in a long time. This other voice came out.’ Produced by Justin Raisen (who also worked on Charli XCX’s 'BRAT'), it’s a reminder that at 72, Gordon is still happily mixing things up.

A taste of home

Sofia de la Cruz, travel editor

Whenever I crave the flavours of my motherland, I head straight to one of the restaurants of José Pizarro – a Spanish expat, just like me. He has just transformed the storied Keeper’s House at the Royal Academy of Arts into a vibrant dining destination, which made the perfect excuse. Who would have thought you’d find Spanish cooking nestled among the RA’s neoclassical grandeur?

Inside, there’s a compelling dialogue between old and new, warm and convivial – prime time is undoubtedly lunch. Deep reds and burnished oranges, inspired by traditional Spanish interiors, set the tone for a menu of Iberian classics with edge: gordal olives stuffed with orange, octopus with potatoes and capers, lamb ragù over silky mash. And for dessert? Either lose yourself in the eclectic curation of art – works by Frank Bowling, Marina Abramović, David Remfry and Picasso lithographs, alongside original paintings by Eileen Cooper – or surrender to the olive oil and almond cake with sharp PX sherry compote.

A perfect pilgrimage

Anna Fixsen, US editor

On a recent visit to my UK in-laws, my husband and I hopped on a train to Winchester, England. We drank ale in a pub from 1002 AD, admired what’s supposedly the original Round Table of Arthurian legend, and took a stroll along the River Itchen. The highlight, by far, however, was a tour of the spectacular Winchester Cathedral, with its breathtaking blend of Norman, Gothic and Perpendicular Gothic architecture.

Here, you can genuflect at the grave of Jane Austen (the author just turned 250 years young), descend into the depths of a waterlogged Norman crypt – now home to a sculpture by Antony Gormley – and appreciate a host of historic oddities, from memento mori and mortuary chests filled with jumbles of royal bones to one peculiar attraction known as the ‘Holy Hole’, where pilgrims could once touch the relics of St Swithin.

Written in the stars

Bill Prince, editor-in-chief

On Thursday I took myself off to the Nomad Hotel in London’s Covent Garden for the launch of a new Poetic Collection of Zodiaque jewellery by Van Cleef & Arpels, which depicts the 12 star signs in medal form – a hand-stamped signature of the 120-year-old maison since the 1950s. The new pieces are available in white gold and on yellow gold bracelets, and their talismanic beauty was underlined by the presence of two astrologers on site, eager to reveal what our own star signs hold in store for 2026. (Of course, Wallpaper* readers already know, thanks to our 2026 design horoscope.)

A practice in motion

Ellie Stathaki, architecture & environment director

Catching up with architect Guy Hollaway and his managing partner, Alex Richards, this week, I found out about one of the studio’s biggest recent wins: the London Golf Club. Promising to be a key hospitality and sporting destination on the outskirts of London, the new and extensive Kent campus has just been awarded planning approval. Meanwhile, a wealth of schemes are about to complete or are on the drawing board at the vibrant Kent- and London-based architecture practice – including, but not limited to, a number of private residences and a personal favourite, Brompton’s new global headquarters and factory in Ashford. Looking forward to seeing more.

Inside Lalique’s Paris showroom, an imposing townhouse in the 8th arrondissement, the French door panes and handles are masterful works of crystal, reflecting the maison’s meticulous attention to detail. It was here that the brains behind the operation, creative and artistic director Marc Larminaux, presented the brand’s 2026 collections during Paris Design Week.

Lalique’s central offering is ‘Air de Lalique’. Founded in 1888 by René Lalique, a passionate admirer of nature, the brand has always drawn inspiration from the natural world – and more recently, from the elements, which this collection continues to explore. It transforms the intangible into crystal, with pleats, grooves and rivulets of undulating pattern. ‘Designing around air allows us to explore lightness without fragility. It invites us to design not only forms, but sensations,’ says Larminaux.

‘Air de Lalique’ is presented in two iterations: Chapter I, available from March 2 2026, features signature pieces such as the ‘Alizé’ vase, whose colour palette evokes the warmth of a sunset, alongside limited editions in hand-applied rose gold leaf that shimmers like captured light. The collection also includes the ‘Alizé’ bowl, a wide form balanced on three feet, seemingly lifted by an invisible current.

‘Chapter II is unified by the idea of air as movement captured in crystal – whether through light, illusion or elevation,’ continues Larminaux. Launching on September 1 2026, the second iteration of ‘Air de Lalique’ centres around the ‘Alizé’ lighting collection. Each piece – portable lamps, desk lamps, table lamps, wall sconces and ceiling installations – unfolds like fabric moving in the breeze, diffusing light to create a soft, emanating glow.

2026 marks the centenary of the ‘Tourbillons' vase, once assumed to be the handiwork of René Lalique but later discovered, through archival research, to have been designed by his daughter, Suzanne Lalique Haviland, in 1926. The occasion is celebrated with a new edition finished with a coral patina. ‘Revisiting the 'Tourbillons' vase reminds us why Lalique exists: to transform nature, movement and light into crystal,’ says Larminaux.

Larminaux also introduced ‘Teddy Air’, his own personal experiment. These sweet-coloured bear sculptures appear inflated, like balloons, with pink and blue iridescent lusters suggesting a metallic sheen. ‘[They embrace] tenderness and nostalgia, while [other collections] reconnect with Lalique’s naturalistic heritage,’ says the creative director. ‘Both are legitimate expressions of the maison. Lalique has always oscillated between audacity and poetry.’

The creative director reflects on the brand’s evolving identity: ‘I hope [people] will understand that Lalique is not defined by a single era or style. It is a living maison that evolves… while remaining rooted in its values.’ In that spirit, it has ventured into artistic collaborations for the first time: the recurring ‘yawning man’ figure from the work of Chinese cynical realism artist Fang Lijun is brought to life in three dimensions using the lost-wax technique, an ancient method for crafting metal and glass objects. Unlike traditional Lalique pieces, Lijun embraces imperfections, with each head a swirling mass of bubbles and bleeding colour.

From the poetic fluidity of air captured in crystal to collaborations that blur the line between art and craft, Lalique demonstrates in its Paris presentations that true artistry lies not only in preserving tradition but in reimagining it for the future.

Paris Déco Off and Maison & Objet have descended on the city, bringing designers, buyers and industry enthusiasts to its bustling streets. Wallpaper* is on the ground, trawling for the most exciting launches and emerging trends of 2026. Below, we highlight our standout presentations across furniture, textiles, objects and more. From craft-focused fabrics to versatile seating and a distinct wealth of archival revivals, these are Wallpaper’s picks from Paris Design Week, showcasing both rising currents and the enduring craftsmanship of the city’s design houses.

A study of light at Rubelli

Rubelli’s 2026 collection, ‘Luce’ – meaning ‘light’ – takes inspiration from the behaviour of light, exploring its interaction with shape, colour and space. Marking a departure from the house’s traditional botanical motifs and fundamental geometries, ‘Luce’ treats fabric as an active participant in its environment, filtering and reflecting light in captivating ways. Silks and satins such as ‘Aurora’, ‘Ripple’ and ‘Dark Lady’ reveal luminous sheens and dynamic visual effects, while jacquards like ‘Spotlight’ introduce bold geometric patterns in intense hues. Reflecting a broader trend this year, the collection also extends outdoors, with textiles designed to capture sunlight and the shimmer of the sea.

A history lesson at L’Objet

L’Objet’s ‘Grand Tour’ collection draws on the 18th- and 19th-century tradition that saw young aristocrats travel through Europe discovering classical art, architecture and natural sciences as a cultural rite of passage. Reimagined for contemporary interiors, the collection presents dinnerware as modern souvenirs. Each piece is crafted from fine porcelain, enriched with hand-applied 24ct gold and decorated through a complex multi-layer decal process that echoes the precision of pietra dura stone inlay. Illustrated botanicals evoke semi-precious stones such as jade, lapis and carnelian, recalling the objects of curiosity once gathered by grand tour travellers. The result is striking.

More looking back at Dedar

Dedar’s 2026 collection celebrates, once again, a dialogue between contemporary design and historical references. Long drawn to figurative motifs, the house now looks to tapestry traditions, reimagined tartans and kaleidoscopic patterns inspired by the Centre Pompidou, alongside cosmic influences recalling constellations, cave paintings and hieroglyphics. The palette moves from soft pastels to vibrant hues, while textures span fluid satins and sumptuous velvets to elegant mohair and handcrafted raw silks. Across fabrics and wall coverings, the collection fuses history and modernity, abstraction and figuration.

A chandelier like no other at Baccarat

Baccarat has teamed up with designer Harry Nuriev for an exhibition at Maison Baccarat. At its centre is a radically reimagined ‘Zénith’ chandelier, integrating everyday objects – pens, bottle caps, CDs, children’s toys – into its intricate crystal form. The piece embodies Nuriev’s philosophy of ‘transformism’, repurposing objects while preserving their memory and blurring the line between art and function. The exhibition also revisits Baccarat icons, including the ‘Harcourt’ glass, carafe and ‘Sirius’ crystal ball, engraved and enamelled with words and images. This collaboration reframes crystal as both a luxury and a conceptual medium, offering unexpected perspectives on classical forms.

Glass that looks like wind-blown fabric at Lalique

Lalique’s ‘Air de Lalique’ collection explores the essence of air – its lightness, movement and transitory nature – rendered in crystal. It's presented in two chapters, the first introducing sculptures inspired by a gentle breeze, with satin-polished undulations, sunset hues and coral patinas, including the signature ‘Alizé’ vases and bowls. The second chapter reimagines pleated crystal as luminous lighting objects. Artistic director Marc Larminaux also unveiled a personal experiment, the neo-pop ‘Teddy Air’ series, whose forms convincingly evoke inflatable balloons. Beyond ‘Air de Lalique’, the house marks the centenary of Suzanne Lalique Haviland’s ‘Tourbillons’ vase with a coral reissue, and also expands into artistic collaborations – with Chinese artist Fang Lijun and the Magritte Foundation.

Elegant furniture at Leleu

Maison Leleu unveiled ‘Classiques Modernes’, a collection that revisits the house’s art deco heritage while embracing the freer, bolder and more feminine direction introduced by Alexia Leleu. Iconic designs – including the ‘Ève’, ‘Coco’ and ‘Marilyn’ chaise longues and the ‘Aglaé’ cabinet – are reinterpreted using contemporary materials, notably Dedar fabrics. The presentation is enriched by contemporary jewellery from Catherine Le Gal and a curated selection of artworks developed in collaboration with Spaceless Gallery. The resulting dialogue between craft, materiality and modern expression feels genuinely fresh, underscoring Leleu’s ongoing reinvention of French haute décoration.

Liberty opens the archive

To mark its 150th anniversary, Liberty has unveiled ‘The House of Liberty’ wallpaper collection, drawing on more than 60,000 archival designs. The collection distills the company's history into three chapters – ’Arts Club’ (1860-1875), ‘Town House’ (1875-1910) and ‘Painter’s House’ (1960-1980) – reinterpreting historic patterns for contemporary interiors. Seventeen hand-painted designs span panoramic murals, wide-width landscapes, floral trails, painterly ditsies, refined geometric and grasscloth finishes, all rooted in Liberty’s distinctive palette and textural richness.

Indoor-outdoor versatility at Ginori 1735

Ginori 1735’s ‘Domus’ capsule collection, designed by Luca Nichetto, brings together furniture, lighting and decorative objects with a fluid indoor-outdoor sensibility. Many pieces are designed to transition seamlessly between settings, reflecting a growing emphasis on versatility. Presented as a series of environments – outdoor, lounge, dining, office and café – the exhibition evokes a range of moods, from quiet contemplation to social vitality. A highlight is the ‘LaVenus’ chair, a sculptural reinterpretation of the brand’s classic armchair. Throughout the collection, Nichetto articulates a holistic vision of contemporary living that is playful, elegant and responsive to evolving lifestyles.

Silk Road-inspired textiles at Fischbacher 1819

Fischbacher 1819 unveiled the ‘Silk Road Collection’, a textile narrative inspired by the historic East-West trade routes. Drawing on the landscapes, crafts and artefacts encountered along the Silk Road, the collection translates deserts, mountains and ancient cities into rich textures, patterns and materials. Spanning upholstery, drapery, wall coverings and decorative elements, the palette moves from sun-warmed neutrals and mineral tones to the deep blues and greens of Central Asia and Persia. Sustainability is integral, with recycled and natural fibres used throughout. The result is a celebration of cultural exchange, reimagined through a contemporary lens.

An icon reimagined at Agapecasa

Agapecasa continues this year’s theme revisiting of design heritage with the re-edition of the 1959 ‘Schwob’ table by Angelo Mangiarotti and Bruno Morassutti. Defined by the essential forms, structural precision and material honesty of the 1950s, the piece was originally designed for Villa Schwob in La Chaux-de-Fonds. The table joins the broader ‘Mangiarotti Collection’ – alongside the ‘Eros’ table, ‘Tre3’ chairs, ‘Cavalletto’ system and ‘CAP53’ vases – together articulating a dialogue between historic architecture, midcentury innovation and contemporary reinterpretation.

Global craftsmanship at De Le Cuona

De Le Cuona leaned into another key theme of the week: craftsmanship. An installation featuring the short film True Luxury Takes Time accompanied a preview of the ‘Woven Earth’ collection, inspired by global landscapes ranging from Chinese rice paddies to American deserts and Incan trails. The collection explores the meticulous process of transforming natural fibres into luxurious textiles, with sculptural seating and layered fabrics inviting visitors to engage with the pieces firsthand. Through this immersive presentation, De Le Cuona underscores its commitment to heritage, sustainability and the poetry of global craft traditions.

Tactile wall coverings at Élitis

Élitis’ 2026 wallcovering collections transform walls into sensorial canvases, balancing delicacy with intensity. Crafted from silk, handmade papers, natural fibres, weaves and mineral textures, the designs draw inspiration from Japanese aesthetics, 1930s-40s modernism and volcanic landscapes. The ‘Écume’ range evokes the ocean through gesso shells, metallic jacquards and mother-of-pearl patinas. ‘Lanzarote’ translates basalt and aquamarine into textured surfaces, while ‘Madagascar Arrowroot Raw Raffia’ blends tropical fibres with luminous highlights. Élitis has created wallcoverings that are both visually striking and tactilely engaging, elevating walls into truly memorable surfaces.

Playing with light at Sahco

Sahco unveiled ‘Linger’, an upholstery and drapery collection that plays with light, illusion and texture. The fourth release from creative director Bengt Thornefors draws on a wide range of artistic influences – from Bettina Rheims’ sharp femininity to Mark Borthwick’s luminous water – with textiles moving from Lurex birds on sheer organza and rippling matte cotton to transparent twills, eel-skin-like surface and light-catching jacquards. A standout is 'Firo', a shimmering modern tartan woven in Norway. The palette stays restrained but rich, with blacks, whites, greys, greens, purples, navies, pinks and a touch of red, all presented within a grand, Berlin-inspired scenography.

Setting the scene at Nordic Knots x Marie-Anne Derville

Nordic Knots presented ‘Scène d’Intérieur’, a new interior narrative by Marie-Anne Derville. Set in a Paris apartment designed by Andrée Putman at Hôtel d’Hallwyll – once Derville’s home – the installation explores the life of a collector. The space functions as a living archive, where subtle traces – a glass by the bed, an open book, a slightly displaced chair – suggest a life in motion. Nordic Knots’ new ‘Grand’ rug colours – Emerald, Sakura and Pecan – are the focal points, layering jewel-green depth, springlike blush and a warm leather-like glow across antiques, M.A.D furniture and contemporary pieces.

A tradition reimagined at Ateliers Lison de Caunes

Artist-designer Garance Vallée was invited by Ateliers Lison de Caunes to reinterpret straw marquetry for Paris Design Week, bringing the craft into a modern era. In her first engagement with the tradition, Vallée merges the art deco legacy of André Groult with her hybrid aesthetic of geometric and organic motifs. A standout piece is a one-of-a-kind folding screen featuring trompe-l’œil effects and varied volumes, combining straw marquetry with engraved steel and aluminium by master metalworker François Pouenat. The work balances traditional craft with digital tools for a bold, transgenerational reinterpretation.

Monde Singulier x Necchi Architecture

'Ec8' is Necchi Architecture’s first furniture collection, created exclusively for Monde Singulier. Designed by Charlotte Albert and Alexis Lamesta, it reinterprets family furniture through deliberate anachronism, embracing its bourgeois roots while adding modern humour and irreverence. The collection juxtaposes matte and glossy finishes, noble and modest materials, and industrial processes with artisanal craftsmanship. Drawing on art deco and modernist references, it features rich lacquer tones – deep burgundy and green – paired with unexpected contrasts and stainless steel accents. Each piece is designed to be passed down as a family heirloom while remaining practical for everyday use.

Pierre Yovanovitch

Alongside his collection with Ecart, Pierre Yovanovitch introduced ‘Beauregard’ at Paris Design Week. Named after the historic townhouse that houses his Paris headquarters, the collection blends past and present through curved silhouettes, sculptural volumes and luminous detailing. ‘Beauregard’ comprises nine pieces – dining table, chairs, desk, three coffee tables, console, daybed and desk lamp – crafted in natural or dark-stained aerogommé chestnut. Lacquered bases in blue, brown, red or black highlight the clean lines, while brass sabots add refined accents. Each piece requires more than 50 hours of craftsmanship, with 20-30 layers of lacquer applied by master artisans.

Opulent patterns at Lelièvre

Lelièvre Paris took over La Pagoda, a historic Parisian landmark, to unveil three new collections, staged by designer Edgar Jayet. ‘Escales Lointaines’ explores travel through materials, weaving exotic landscapes with basketry-inspired textures, maritime knot geometries, botanical and Asian references and occasional metallic yarns. ‘Îles du Vent’ is the brand’s first in/outdoor line, inspired by Caribbean light, lush jungles and sunlit shores, blending tropical vibes with outdoor performance. Finally, ‘Festivités 2026 – Quenin’ revisits historical brand Quenin's heritage with bold, opulent materials and theatrical patterns, celebrating French hedonism, luxurious entertaining and the art of décor.

Bringing the outdoors in at Little Greene

Little Greene’s sixth wallpaper collection with the National Trust, ‘In the Garden’, celebrates gardens and the people who created them. The eight designs draw from formal landscapes, private plant collections and historical floral artefacts cared for by the Trust, with each pattern coordinating with Little Greene paint shades. Highlights include ‘May’s Tulip’, inspired by Arts & Crafts designer May Morris, ‘Castle Garden’, based on Sissinghurst’s iconic garden rooms, and ‘Mr Straw’s Greenhouse’, featuring a 1930s Nottinghamshire grocer’s cactus collection.

When the world came to a standstill six years ago during the pandemic, some speculated that it might spell the death knell for the design trade show – and in some ways, perhaps it did. Traditional fairs have struggled to draw the same crowds and have taken time to regroup. Stockholm Furniture Fair announced earlier this year that it will skip 2026, returning as a biennial in 2027, while London Design Fair cancelled all future events indefinitely in 2023. Others are taking steps to move with the times. In Milan, Salone del Mobile continues to grow its busy cultural programme and in 2026 will reinvigorate its offering at Fiera Milano with the introduction of a more intimately scaled collectible design pavilion, created by Formafantasma.

In tandem, smaller, more agile design fairs staged in architecturally compelling locations have surged in popularity, with design platform Alcova and the travelling showcase Nomad leading the way. It turns out that making the design fair experience more pleasurable – less overwhelming, more considered – has its appeal. Who would have thought?

The result is a seemingly ever-expanding fair calendar. It’s no exaggeration to say that, if time, money and inclination allow, you could now spend almost every week of the year at a design fair somewhere in the world. But where to begin? Seasoned design tourists have their fixtures – spring in Milan, summer in Copenhagen, winter in Miami – yet there’s something especially appealing about seeking out the less expected. We reached out to friends and insiders for their steer on the most interesting design fairs in the year ahead, and were pleased to find a healthy mix of new arrivals alongside trusted favourites. Here’s what they recommended.

January

Paris Déco Off / Maison & Objet, Paris, France

In January, décor enthusiasts head to Paris for the biannual design fair Maison & Objet, held at the city’s Parc des Expositions from 15–19 January. Running in parallel, Déco Off ,14–17 January, sees more than 150 textile houses unveil their latest collections across showrooms in the city’s Marais and Madeleine districts. Together, the two events serve as a barometer for the design trends set to shape the year ahead, drawing buyers, decorators and the design press alike.

At this year’s Maison & Objet, the theme is ‘Past Reveals Future’, a celebration of furniture rooted in craftsmanship. The fair’s designer of the year, Harry Nuriev, will also present a dedicated installation and unveil a new collection of home objects created exclusively for Baccarat.

14 to 17 January 2026
paris-deco-off.com

15 to 19 January 2026
Parc des Expositions Paris Nord Villepinte 82, avenue des Nations 93420 Villepinte, France
maison-objet.com

NEW for 2026: Shoppe Object Paris, Paris, France

Further bolstering the appeal of Paris in January is the launch of Shoppe Object Paris. The New York–founded trade fair will make its European debut from 17–19 January within fashion and lifestyle trade show Who’s Next at Porte de Versailles. Located in Hall 7.2 and conceived as a ‘showroom within a showroom’, it promises to bring a tightly curated international edit spanning tableware, furniture, gifts and lifestyle, with a focus on materials, craftsmanship and contemporary retail culture.

The showcase, developed in collaboration with WSN, the group behind the recently launched and hugely popular Matter and Shape, is designed to act as a strategic bridge between European and North American brands and buyers.

17 to 19 January 2026
Paris Expo Porte de Versailles is 1 Place de la Porte de Versailles, 75015 Paris, France

The New York editions of Shoppe Object take place 1 to 3 February 2026 and 2 to 4 August 2026
Starrett-Lehigh Building 601 West 26th Street, New York, NY 10001, USA
shoppeobject.com

NEW for 2026: Der Pavilion, St. Moritz, Switzerland

Curator Giorgio Pace, who co-founded the collectible design fair Nomad in 2017 before departing last year, has announced his next venture: Der Pavilion. The four-week-long constellation of exhibitions, performances and experiences will open in St. Moritz on 29 January, overlapping with Nomad St. Moritz, which takes place from 12–15 February.

Described by Pace as a ‘natural evolution’ of what he has been building over the past fifteen years, Der Pavilion is conceived as a residency-style exhibition model. It is designed to foster a slower, more reflective cultural experience during the St. Moritz winter season, offering visitors deeper engagement, greater visibility and sustained access to collectors.

The inaugural edition will unfold within the former Hotel Eden, currently slated for redevelopment. Looking ahead, Pace says the project will evolve into a permanent architectural structure, serving as a year-round home for exhibitions, performances and gatherings.

From 29 January 2026
Hotel Eden, Via Veglia 12, 7500 St. Moritz, Switzerland
giorgiopaceprojects.com

DesignTO Festival, Toronto, Canada

Launched in 2010, DesignTO is a ten-day, city-wide festival that evolved alongside Toronto’s annual Interior Design Show, emerging as a platform for independent design studios to host off-site events. Championing the local design community, this year’s programme spans workshops, talks, exhibitions and window installations.

The talks cover a wide range of topics and don’t shy away from important issues, from the climate crisis and social justice to decolonisation. The workshops, meanwhile, sound refreshingly playful – try bacon embroidery at the Drake Hotel with textile artist Laura Carwardine, or join a life drawing class on vintage furniture from In Corso, hosted by design Substack For Scale at the Ace Hotel.

23 January to 1 February 2026
designto.org

February

Zsonamaco and Unique Design X, Mexico City, Mexico

It won’t take much persuasion for those in the northern hemisphere to book flights to Mexico City in the bleakest of months, but if you need an excuse, Mexico Art Week – and its headline event, Zona Maco – is it. The largest art fair in Latin America, the action unfolds across the city and at the Citibanamex Centre, where visitors will find contemporary art, design, photography and antiquities.

For its 22nd edition, the fair welcomes British designer Lee Broom for a creative residency at a historic villa in Polanco, owned by lighting brand Diez Company. Here, Broom will present more than 50 works, spanning new editions and collaborations with Calico Wallpaper, Lladró and a selection of Mexican artists chosen in collaboration with Diez.

For the past three years, the festivities have also included nomadic design fair Unique Design X, which brings together international galleries such as Carpenters Workshop and Marion Friedmann, alongside local talents such as Esteban Tamayo and Atra Form.

4 to 8 February 2026
Zsonamaco, Citibanamex Centre, Avenue del Conscripto 311, Lomas de Sotelo, Miguel Hidalgo, 11610 Mexico City, Mexico
zsonamaco.com

5 to 8 February 2026
Av. Morelos 67 Juárez, Cuauhtémoc, 06600 Mexico City, Mexico
uniquedesignxgroup.com

India Art Fair, New Delhi, India

We’re told that this year’s India Art Fair is set to expand its collectible design offering, spotlighting the work of 12 design studios and two design galleries. Among them is Mumbai-based Æquō, which has teamed up with the French Institute’s residency programme, inviting French designer Marie Gastini to explore a cross-cultural dialogue between traditional Indian textile techniques and contemporary scenography.

A new design talks programme, curated by multidisciplinary media agency Border & Fall, will further explore design practices across South Asia and beyond. Elsewhere in the city – at Sunder Nursery – conservation scientist and creative director Tara Lal, in collaboration with architectural studio T__M.space, has created the Aranyani Pavilion, a spiral-shaped structure that explores sacred ecologies, invasive species, Indigenous knowledge systems, and decolonial approaches to restoration in South Asia.

5 to 8 February 2026
NSIC Exhibition Grounds, Okhla, New Delhi, Delhi, 110020, India
indiaartfair.in

Object Rotterdam, Rotterdam, Netherlands

For those in Europe, Object Rotterdam kicks off February. Long praised for its considered curation and easy-going scale, the fair is particularly strong on championing a diverse mix of voices, bringing emerging talent into dialogue with more established names across disciplines. Last year, it moved from its usual home in the HAKA building to the centrally located AIR Offices; this year, to the delight of architecture fans, it remains in the heart of the city, relocating to the 1980s Central Library on Hoogstraat – reason enough to visit in itself. Currently awaiting large-scale renovation, the former library offers visitors the rare chance to wander its stacks one last time, transformed into a temporary showcase for contemporary design.

6 to 8 February 2026
Central Library, Librijesteeg 4, 3011 HN Rotterdam, Netherlands
objectrotterdam.com

NEW for 2026: FUTUREOBJEKT at Melbourne Art Fair, Melbourne, Australia

Melbourne Art Fair is also upping its design offer with the launch of a new collectible design salon, FUTUREOBJEKT. Described as a ‘fair-within-a-fair’, the showcase brings together 20 Antipodean design studios, including several Wallpaper favourites. Among them are Melbourne-based Volker Haug Studio, which will debut a series of Murano glass lamps, and Don Cameron, presenting a selection of rare vintage design pieces alongside new works of his own.

Also launching in 2026 is the fair’s first-ever design commission, presented in partnership with the National Gallery of Victoria. Melbourne-based artist and designer Anna Varendorff of ACV Studio, known for her distinctive curved brass sculptures, will create an ambitious installation for the VIP lounge.

19 to 22 February 2026
Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, Exhibition Door 1, 1 Convention Centre Pl, South Wharf VIC 3006, Australia
melbourneartfair.com.au

March

Matter and Shape, Paris, France

Returning for its third edition, Matter and Shape has quickly become a firm favourite among design aficionados. Launched in 2024 and held during Paris Fashion Week in a temporary show space at the Jardin des Tuileries, the salon highlights the increasingly porous boundary between fashion and design, drawing collectors, buyers and creatives into the same orbit. As the show's artistic director, Dan Thawley, noted last year '...design has never been more fashionable than now.’

Conceived as a tightly curated platform for both established and emerging voices, Matter and Shape pulls together objects and interiors that sit at the intersections of ‘design, industry and craft, creativity and commerce’. This year look out for Irish glassware brand J Hill's Standard, which is launching Irish fashion designer Richard Malone's first products.

6 to 9 March 2026
Jardin des Tuileries, 75001 Paris, France
matterandshape.com

Collectible, Brussels, Belgium

Last year during Brussels design fair Collectible we discovered a lively design scene as the city continues to emerge as one of Europe’s most compelling places for creatives to live, work and sell. Needless to say, we’ll be returning this year to see how that energy has evolved. Now in its ninth edition, Collectible Brussels takes place at the Vanderborght Building, once again positioning itself as a key platform for the discovery of contemporary collectible design.

12 to 15 March 2026
Vanderborght Building, Rue de l'Ecuyer 50, 1000 Bruxelles, Belgium
collectible.design

April

Milan Design Week, Milan, Italy

Every year, there is plenty of chatter about which trade show is the ‘new Milan’, alongside much lamenting over the way fashion and tech brands have infiltrated the design ranks. Yet despite it all, Milan remains undefeated as the most important event on the design calendar. At its heart, it is an unrelenting but thrilling, negroni-fuelled networking marathon, played out across wisteria-strewn courtyards and palazzi – and, for all its intensity, a lot of fun.

As well as annual favourite Alcova, which announced its 2026 locations earlier this month, this year, don’t miss Salone Raritas at Salone del Mobile: a new collectible design pavilion conceived by Formafantasma, which promises to tempt even the most weary design cognoscenti into making the pilgrimage out to Rho.

21-26 April 2026
Rho Fiera, Strada Statale Sempione 28, 20017 Rho, Milan
salonemilano.it

May

DesignMarch, Reykjavík, Iceland

Despite its small size and remote location, Iceland is home to a vibrant, energetic design community as evidenced each year at Design March in Reykjavík, the country's annual festival of design, architecture and craft. The five-day event unfolds as a citywide programme of exhibitions, talks, open studios and installations, bringing together local and international practitioners while placing a particular emphasis on Icelandic design culture and local materials – expect plenty of wool, algae and lava stone. Spread across galleries, institutions and unexpected venues across the city, DesignMarch offers a focused snapshot of contemporary practice, from product and furniture design to architecture, fashion and graphic design.

6 to 10 May 2026
honnunarmidstod.is

NYCxDesign and ICFF, New York, USA

New York Design Week(NYCxDesign) is the city’s annual, city-wide celebration of design, spanning exhibitions, talks and trade fairs across Manhattan and beyond. Among its highlights in 2026 is the second edition of Afternoon Light, the design fair founded by Minya Quirk and Deirdre Maloney, who first launched the project as an online collectible design marketplace. Last year, the fair debuted under the name Shelter by Afternoon Light; in 2026, it returns simply as Afternoon Light and relocates to downtown venue WSA.

As before, the fair will feature an invitation-only exhibitor list and a tightly edited curation. Widely regarded within New York’s design community as a welcome counterpoint to ICFF – the mega trade show at the Javits Center around which Design Week originally coalesced – Afternoon Light brings a fresh, considered perspective.

14 – 20 May 2026
nycxdesign.org

17 to 19 May 2026
ICFF, Javits Convention Center 429 11th Avenue, New York, NY 10001
icff.com

Afternoon Light, WSA, 161 Water Street, NYC 10038
afternoonlight.com

June

3 Days of Design, Copenhagen, Denmark

True to its name, the festival unfolds over three days each June, animating historic buildings, showrooms and temporary venues across the Danish capital. Copenhagen is ideally scaled for a city-wide event of this kind: if not entirely walkable, then effortlessly cyclable. June in Copenhagen only adds to the appeal, with the city’s relaxed, assured hospitality lending the festival a warm, celebratory atmosphere, helping to explain its runaway success.

That popularity has inevitably driven rapid growth. While the 2026 programme has yet to be announced, last year saw more than 400 brands take part across eight districts. The challenge now will be ensuring the event retains its lightness of touch as it continues to expand.

10 to 12 June 2026
3daysofdesign.dk

NEW for 2026: Nomad The Hamptons, Long Island, USA

As longtime admirers of theatre director Robert Wilson and his Water Mill Center – the experimental arts foundation and campus he established on the East End of Long Island in the early 1990s – we were pleased to learn that it will host Nomad's US debut. A long-standing hub for cross-disciplinary exchange, the Watermill Center was chosen, Nomad says, because it aligns naturally with the fair's interest in dialogue across art, design and architecture. Set to take place in summer 2026, the Hamptons edition marks a significant moment for the fair, situating its collectible design programme within one of the world’s most concentrated collector communities.

25 to 28 June 2026
Robert M. Wilson, Water Mill, 39 Watermill Towd Road, Water Mill, NY 11976, USA
nomad-circle.com

July

Work/Shop Nantucket, Nantucket, USA

Nantucket, the rarefied Massachusetts island, isn’t an obvious choice for a design fair, but its strong culture of craft, tradition and collecting suggests otherwise. Founded by design communications agency Alpha Kilo, Work/Shop Nantucket is a year-round, residency-based platform that transforms a historic property in the heart of town into a rotating showcase for craft, design and cultural exchange. Structured around four seasonal chapters – Culinary (May–June), Design (July–August), Sustainability (September–October) and Entertaining (November–December) – the programme brings together artisans, designers and heritage brands through workshops, demonstrations, salons and retail-led installations. Timed to coincide with Nantucket’s high season and events such as Nantucket by Design (hosted by the local historical association), Work/Shop, now in its second year, positions itself as an intimate, narrative-driven alternative to the traditional trade fair.

The design residency runs 10 July to 9 August 2026
alphakilo.com/workshop

August

Setmana d'Arquitectura i Disseny Club Pollença, Mallorca, Spain

Mallorca has become a veritable haven for creatives, with plenty happening in the island’s capital, Palma, alongside architectural pilgrimages such as Jørn Utzon’s Can Lis near Portopetro, Fundació Miró Mallorca, and artist-run hotels like Corazón in the Tramuntana mountains. But for one week in mid-August, head north-east from the capital to Pollença, where a mini architecture and design conference takes over the town. Over its 12-year history, guests have included Sabine Marcelis, Kersten Geers, Rafael Moneo, Jacob van Rijs, Alfredo Häberli, Daniel Libeskind, Boltshauser, Carme Pinós and Stephen Bates.

2026 dates TBC
instagram.com/setarqcpollenca

September

London Design Festival, London, UK

At London Design Festival 2025, Duncan Riches, creative director of the Shoreditch Design Triangle, told us that he sensed ‘a renaissance in the UK design sector’ – a view we were inclined to share after encountering a confident new generation of design talent across the city. In Brompton, Alex Tieghi-Walker made his debut as district curator (and is tipped to return in 2026), foregrounding a fresh mix of emerging voices, while Shoreditch buzzed with renewed energy, from House of Icon to Slancha Gallery’s pop-up on Brick Lane. The 2026 programme has yet to be announced, but if last year is any indication, it promises to be one of the most energised editions yet.

12 to 20 September 2026
londondesignfestival.com

Lake Como Design Festival, Como, Italy

There is a clear move towards slower, more reflective alternatives to the big trade shows, and Lake Como Design Festival is no exception. Set against one of Italy’s most compelling landscapes – and less than an hour from Milan – the fair returns for its eighth edition in 2026. This year's theme is 'Confine', which invites designers to explore borders not only as lines of division, but as sites of encounter, exchange and transformation. Over nine days, a programme of exhibitions, installations and talks will unfold across venues around Lake Como, inviting designers and audiences alike to consider how geographical, cultural and conceptual boundaries continue to shape both creative practice and contemporary life.

12 to 20 September 2026
lakecomodesignfestival.com

Vienna Design Week, Vienna, Austria

2026 marks the 20th anniversary of Vienna Design Week, a small but firm favourite within design circles. Moving beyond a narrow focus on product, the festival’s talks programme is known for tackling more searching questions – from the role of designers today to the future of design education – while in 2025 platforms such as the Feminist Welding Club kept things lively and accessible. Organised by an independent association, and retaining an agreeably offbeat spirit, the festival spans around 200 events across the city and welcomes some 40,000 visitors each year.

25 September to 4 October 2026
viennadesignweek.at

October

We Design Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon

We're already marking our calendars for the next edition of We Design Beirut – a five-day design experience that brings architecture, craft, exhibitions and workshops to life across historic sites in the Lebanese capital. The 2025 edition expanded significantly from its 2024 debut, activating landmarks from Roman Baths to Villa Audi and Burj El Murr with curated projects that explore legacy, resilience and continuity.

2026 dates TBC
wedesignbeirut.com

Edit Napoli, Naples, Italy

More than a few designers we’ve spoken to cite Edit Napoli as their favourite fair, and it’s easy to see why. The place to go for designer-makers, independent producers and craftsmen pushing back against the conventions of the mainstream design industry, the three-day fair was founded by design historian and independent curator Domitilla Dardi and engineer-turned-gallerist Emilia Petruccelli.

It takes place at La Santissima, the city’s former military hospital. Alongside the main exhibition, Edit Napoli runs its own awards programme, recognising the best unreleased product, as well as Edit Cult, a satellite initiative that sees selected brands present special projects in some of Naples’ most significant cultural sites.

‘In the context of a big design week, you don’t always have the attention to listen to the stories behind the work,’ Dardi told Wallpaper in 2019. ‘This kind of design deserves time.’

9 to 11 October 2026
La Santissima, Vico Trinità delle Monache, 80134 Naples, Italy
editnapoli.com

November

ART X Lagos, Nigeria, West Africa

Lagos, Nigeria is widely recognised as Africa’s creative and design capital, anchored by major events including Design Week Lagos, Lagos Photo Festival, Lagos Fashion Week and ART X Lagos. Of these, ART X Lagos remains the city’s most established and buzziest cultural moment. The 2025 edition had plenty of art–design crossover, with highlights including Nifemi Marcus-Bello’s Material Affirmations – Okírì Acts I–III at Tiwani Contemporary, and Portraits of Modernity, a live installation inspired by photographer J.D. Okhai Ojeikere, featuring the 'Pàtẹ́wọ̀' chair by Wallpaper* Future Icons Salù Wadi Studio. This year’s programme is yet to be announced, but as the fair marks its tenth anniversary, expectations are high.

Dubai Design Week, Dubai, UAE

The Middle East’s largest creative festival celebrates design in all its forms, bringing together installations, new commissions, exhibitions, talks and workshops across the purpose-built Dubai Design District (d3) and beyond. What began as a festival dominated by international brands has since evolved to include a strong presence of exhibitors from across the MENA region, bringing their own distinct design languages to the world stage.

2026 dates TBC
dubaidesignweek.ae

Cairo Design Week, Cairo, Egypt

Now in its fourth edition, Cairo Design Week has established itself as a significant new hub for design in the MENA region, broadening a landscape long centred on Dubai. The event is set to return in November 2026 for its fourth edition, building on its 2025 programme that transformed the Egyptian capital into a sprawling design playground with installations, exhibitions, workshops and talks across three districts: Heliopolis, Zamalek and Downtown. A meeting ground for regional creativity and innovation, the festival highlights both heritage and contemporary design in one of the Middle East’s most lively cities.

2026 dates TBC
cairodesignweek.net

Design Mumbai, Mumbai, India

The shifting design landscape in India is one we’ve been watching closely at Wallpaper*, and one of the reasons we eagerly anticipate the third edition of Design Mumbai in 2026. As with many international trade shows, global names and headline activations tend to dominate the programme – 2025's edition included a packed talks schedule and Design Mumbai Exchange, a series of installations by international designers – yet it is the local studios and brands that most pique our interest in this rapidly evolving market.

25 to 28 November 2026
Jio World Garden, Bandra Kurla Complex, Mumbai 400051, India
designmumbai.com

December

Design Miami, Miami, USA

The final major design event of the year, Design Miami will open its 22nd edition in 2026. What started as a modest gathering in 2005 during Art Basel Miami Beach has grown into a leading global fair with annual editions in Miami, Basel, Paris and Los Angeles with a new edition launching in Dubai in 2027.

The Miami iteration has helped to revitalise the city’s design district and continues to attract designers, collectors, and curators from around the world, all in search of high design with a side of winter sun.

1 to 6 December 2026
designmiami.com

DesignTide Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

After a 12-year hiatus, DesignTide Tokyo returned in 2024, reviving a platform that originally ran from 2005 to 2012 and was widely admired for prioritising creative experimentation over commercial trade. The 2025 edition, currently underway as we write, builds on that legacy with an expanded, more considered format shaped by an international board of directors and curators, including Hirofumi Akimoto of furniture label E&Y, Disegno editor-in-chief Oli Stratford, London-based sound artist Yuri Suzuki, and Sight Unseen co-founders Monica Khemsurov and Jill Singer.

Designers are selected through an open call and rigorous review process, with the programme unfolding across a Main Exhibition, student showcase, market and extension venues. Details of the 2026 edition are yet to be announced, but the fair’s renewed ambition is clear.

2026 dates TBC
1F Forest Hills West, 4-18-16 Minami-Aoyama, Minato-ku, Tokyo
designtide.tokyo

Paris Design Week rumbles on, with design professionals and aesthetically-minded members of the public perusing various locations to discover the latest collections in decor and interiors.

The event, born from the trade-focused Maison&Objet, showcases more than 150 brands who, via affiliated occasions like Paris Déco Off and Maison&Objet in the City, welcome attendees into their showrooms. The doors of workshops and ateliers are thrown open and Paris' sequestered design spaces unlocked, extending collections and archives usually reserved for industry insiders, to the public.

Attendees can take various routes around Paris to discover these collections, exploring the spots that make up its design ecosystem. Head of Interiors, Olly Mason, spent a couple of days traversing the capital’s arrondissements, dipping in and out of studios and getting the rundown on exhibiting brands.

We catch up with Olly for her highlights, reflections and meditations on Paris Design Week…

Melodic tableware at Hermès

Hermès presented En Contrepoint, a tableware collection, at the Conservatoire National Des Artes et Métiers, a former abbey in Paris’ third arrondissement. The 33 porcelain pieces are lined with friezes in 30 shades, from pinks and violets to blues, greens and oranges. Motifs are vibrant and geometric, hand-drawn and painted by artist Nigel Peake.

‘The collection was really beautiful,’ says Olly. ‘The word “contrepoint” actually refers to a style of musical composition that uses multiple melodies, and the whole collection related to this.’ En Contrepoint is all about refrain and tempo – this is transposed onto the designs via metrical patterns and rhythmic shapes; the repetition of these shapes becomes hypnotic, arranged into different permutations, as music is on a score.

Acidic upholstery at Sahco

Sahco presented its collection in the whitewashed surrounds of the Galerie Dumonteil. Room Service, an installation predicated around the theme of ‘icons of Modernism’, was staged by American designer Rafael de Cárdenas, who took Modernist motifs and imbued them with Sahco language.

Set among vintage and classic furniture and objet d’art, Sahco’s pieces also felt, in some ways, archaic and artisanal. In making them, however, traditional techniques were combined with high tech.

References came thick and fast: the colours recalled Franz West, the Austrian artist known for his unconventional objects, and designer Ulf Moritz, who shaped Sahco in the 1980s. A fringed sheer made with fil-coupé alluded to the glamour of Marilyn Monroe, and a snakeskin motif was unexpectedly rendered in heavy jacquard. ‘The first thing that struck me was the colours,’ says Olly. ‘But then you saw that the designs stood up to this.’

Looking back at Liberty

Next on Olly’s agenda was the Rue de Seine to preview Liberty’s 150th anniversary collection, The House of Liberty. ‘This was a deep dive into Liberty’s archival designs, which the brand had taken abstracts from and reworked, some more literally than others,’ she says.

The collection, which consisted of interior fabric and wallpaper, drew on key moments from Liberty’s past, with the intention of bookending the last 150 years to make way for a new era. Dusty, leather-bound books containing charcoal hand-drawings of original designs left audiences in little doubt about the scope of Liberty’s 60,000-strong archive.

In The House of Liberty, the stories of these fabrics were told and celebrated, reimagining Victorian paisleys, bohemian botanicals and 1970s florals. Palm Parade, for example, discovered as a fabric fragment in an 1880s pattern book, references an artwork originally made using woodblock printing. With every nod and reference, the collection sought to revive and update the craftsmanship at the heart of Liberty.

Modular minimalism at Liaigre

Interior architect Liaigre reissued the Bloc collection at its Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré flagship with a new edition of the Bloc Library, a collaboration between architects Gaëlle Lauriot-Prévost and Dominique Perrault. The bookshelf – which builds on a design created in 1995 for the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, reimagining this at a domestic scale – is all about conservative minimalism and clean lines. It’s extensively adaptable, being fully modular, with almost limitless customisation options.

A special setting at The Invisible Collection

The Invisible Collection’s presentation took place at the enchanting Féau Boiseries workshop, which houses stacks upon stacks of antique wood panels, at its 150th anniversary. Stepping inside the appointment-only space was another standout for Olly: ‘You go through this unassuming door on a Parisian street and it’s like a warren – you head through room after room filled with wooden panels through different eras and styles.’

The Invisible Collection partnered with Mobilier national, the institution for French decorative arts, to present their latest furniture acquisitions in this idiosyncratic setting. These included a collection of Fauvist rugs by BENI, Laura Demichelis’ Rhino Table, Sophie Dries’ Nogye Table, and Alice Gavalet’s Guéridon.

Olly was particularly drawn to Elliott Barnes’ latest creation, White Endless Summer II, a limited edition bench in white Synderme, a material made from natural leather fibres mixed with paper and latex – notable for the fact that it uses vegetable leather to structure as opposed to just cover. Placing this state-of-the-art material in such rich, textural surroundings only enhanced its impact.

Old meets new at Nordic Knots

Nordic Knots' debut installation, The Grand, celebrated the intersection of contemporary design and ancient artistry. The venue for the presentation, therefore, could not have been more perfect, says Olly: ‘Galerie Chenel is known for housing these beautiful, ancient sculptures, and I loved the way that Nordic Knots mixed its pieces amongst them.’

The Scandinavian textile company exhibited its most covetable rugs and curtains draped on and around Galerie Chenel’s Roman artworks. The brand’s broad palette and rich textures were on full show, with plush rugs and all-wool curtains rendered in burnt reds, soft lilacs and sunshine yellows popping against mottled marble and centuries-old stone.

Functional ornaments at Christofle

The French silverware stalwart, which has been going since 1830, launched its Perspectives collection by Mathias Kiss. The French artist took the motif of moulding and dissected and reconstructed it to create candleholders, candelabras and a vase.

Because of the nature of moulding, the objects are tightly structured, while managing to feel slightly surreal. Kiss imagines a new functionality for ornamentation, using classical forms to create modern objects.

‘The motif was repeated with different angles and dimensions to create a collection that feels really architectural and contemporary,’ says Olly. ‘And, because of the way they play on a continuous line, each piece can be sat within other pieces to create your own composition.’

Contrasting fabrics at Dedar

Contemporary fabric and wallcovering specialist Dedar brought its 2025 collection to Paris Design Week: a lively amalgamation of contrasts, juxtaposing the classical and contemporary, as well as figurative, abstract and narrative elements. Oriental concepts sometimes crept in, with motifs of mountains, waterfalls, clouds, skies, butterflies and branches. Embroidery was combined with other, usual techniques, sometimes occasioning a clash of materials. Streaks and special dyes created a fusion of saturated, pale and mélange tones, and textures also ebbed and flowed: the Plain Classics, for example, are characterised by a woollen side and a silky side.

Evolution at Rubelli

Rubelli presented a textile collection developed under the creative direction of Formafantasma, Teorema. The collection, the brand has said, aims to better meet the demands of high-end markets, making use of high-performance fabrics such as wool, and angles to disrupt the perception of Rubelli as exclusively employing silks and other luxury textiles. This was a mission statement about the preservation of identity alongside the diversification of offering. Thus, Teorema can reasonably be described as innovative for Rubelli.

Colours were largely neutral, accompanied by some more extroverted shades. Patterns moved away from the botanical – ‘the most archetypal decorative apparatus of the fabric’ – to the abstract and geometric, in a way which echoed the theme of evolution.

Twice a year, Maison et Objet, design’s answer to Paris Fashion Week, sees the city flooded with industry insiders clamouring to unearth the latest trends in the world of interiors.

This year's first edition ran from 16th to 20th January, and Wallpaper* made its way to the Parc des Expositions near Charles de Gaulle airport to explore seven halls full of 1,800 brands exhibiting their latest collections, offering a vitrine into home and lifestyle trends. Although Maison et Objet has lost several key exhibitors over the last few years, it nonetheless attracts established brands and serves as a platform for young studios.

This edition was curated around the theme of Sur/Reality, drawing on the centennial of Surrealism last year. The programme explored how today’s designers glean ideas from the movement to create contemporary products.

Here are our correspondent's top takeaways from Maison et Objet.

Designer of the Year: Faye Toogood

British designer Faye Toogood has titled her presentation Womanifesto!, asserting her unconventional and category-defying ascent in the creative arena. Furniture, fashion, rugs, sculptures and objects intermingle in day-and-night areas recalling sunsets and rugged landscapes. Count in the iconic Roly Poly chair (2014) and Gummy collection (2024) in round, plumps forms among other pieces.

What’s New? In Hospitality by Uchronia

The Uchronia collective, founded by Julien Sebban and known for signing Sonia Rykiel boutiques as well several restaurants, proposes Hotel Uchronia – a vision of maximalist exuberance encompassing contrasting motifs, floral flourishes and Surrealist touches in collaboration with dozens of brands. This is epitomised in the bedroom, Uchronia’s chandelier with glass-blown flowers illuminating the circular bed surrounded by an abundance of velvet cushions.

What’s New? In Decor by Elizabeth Leriche

Trend forecaster Elizabeth Leriche invariably sets the tone for the fair’s overarching inspirations in her spaces. The Sur/Reality theme channels reflections on Surrealism through a maze, curiosity cabinet, chamber of dreams and fantastical forest. Greeting visitors at the entrance is Vetrofuso’s Eyes mirror – one of many pieces tapping into ideas about the unconscious.

Rising Talents Awards

South Korean design is spotlighted through the delicate and expressive craftsmanship of seven studios. On view are Dahye Jeong’s meticulously woven horsehair vessels that revisit a technique practiced on Jeju island; Minjae Kim’s anthropomorphic, carved wooden chairs, including a crying face backrest and raised fist armrest; and Sisan Lee’s interplay of stone and aluminum slabs supporting a triangular table alongside aluminum stools reminiscent of tree branches.

Serax

The Belgian brand has collaborated with Kris Van Assche, former creative director at Dior Homme and Berluti, on his first foray into interior objects. The Josephine Collection is inspired by his grandmother’s bowls and vases, and reinterprets those shapes by inserting squares into the crisp designs. Among other product launches are cute owl-shaped vases by Marni and black and white mussel-shaped objects by Wouters & Hendrix.

Tanama

During the Covid-19 pandemic, then office-designer Emeline Bosset noticed clients suffering with back ache whilst home-working under lockdown. She came up with an ergonomic, mural solution whose rounded shape opens into a sitting-and-standing desk, complete with an integrated space for a plant. At the end of the day, the desk – conceived in Troyes and entirely made in France – can be closed up, vanishing into a wall sculpture.

Sfera by Victoria Wilmotte for pulpo

Victoria Wilmotte bridges unique and industrial design with her new lighting collection, Sfera. Besides a limited edition made by hand at VW Factory in Paris, the French designer has teamed up with pulpo on a mass-produced version. Characterised by triangular steel frames punctuated by luminous glass globes, the geometric pieces come in “smoky grey, chrome, fango green and orange glaze”.

Hello Again for Seletti

The Hello Again collective drew inspiration from the radical postmodern design of the 1960s and 1970s for its Superfurniture collection for Seletti. That rule-breaking quest for freedom is expressed in a diversity of pieces, from bistro tables to beds, embracing bold eye-catching colours and playful, geometric compositions. Hello Again’s idea was about creating something that would be iconic, ironic and accessible.

Bluecycle

After being a winner of M&O’s Future on Stage launchpad for young companies in 2024, BlueCycle (founded in Greece by Suzanna Laskaridis) returns with its own booth. The display features a collection of robotic 3D-printed wavy furniture, Second Nature, and objects produced in BlueCycle’s laboratory in Piraeus, all made with recycled marine plastic waste from Greece's shipping and fishing industries.

Superlife

ECAL graduates Cyrille Verdon and Edrris Gaaloul took over Gaaloul’s father’s ironmaking forge to set up their studio in 2014. Designed and made in Switzerland, it puts functionality front and centre. The first-time exhibitors are presenting three families of objects: Mooma – a floor lamp made of luminous tubes inside a vertical vitrine; Romana – lighting based on Roman columns and Memphis, and Cady – a steel-and-wire-mesh shelf.

Formar

Interior architect and furniture designer Daniel Fintzi joined forces with marble specialist Erich Heilemann to found Formar in 2018 with the aim of repurposing marble offcuts. Based in Hong Kong, Formar sources the offcuts from European quarries, mainly in Carrara, Sicily and Portugal. On display are elegant small-scale furniture pieces by Fintzi, Adolfo Abejon and Ming Design Studio.

August Sandgren

Former McKinsey consultant Pia Kirkeskov Andersen acquired August Sandgren in 2019 to revive its legacy of impeccable handcrafted storage solutions. A bookbinder and box-maker, Sandgren (1893-1934) was a supplier to the Danish court. The reimagined brand builds on that heritage to “de-clutter” modern life through pieces such as jewellery boxes and notebooks, the latest offering being the Weekend Bag – a tote bag in the supplest leather.

Presque

With a background in making bespoke 3D-printed trophies, Antoine Crisias founded lighting brand Presque in Nantes last year after conceiving objects for his own interior. Made from PLA, a bio-sourced material made from corn starch, the transparent table lamps have a ribbed texture, denoting how they are developed layer by layer, eschewing any waste.

Studio Fragrances

Nathalie Rias left the world of contemporary art and performing arts to found Studio Fragrances last year. For the first collection, Sisyphe, she collaborated with French craftsmen to create a wavy-bordered table made from responsibly sourced oak with tapered green marble legs as well as chairs.

Conferences

The line-up of conferences delves into a wide range of subjects from how to counterbalance the impact of Artificial Intelligence on retail and hospitality to the use of sound for tailor-made experiences. Also debated is a century of decorative arts in France, the search for rare materials in luxury, the importance of personal stories, and merging tradition and innovation in furniture.

‘Even though Maison & Objet isn’t somewhere I’d do shopping for my home, it’s the opportunity to show my approach to design, emerging and confirmed talents, and how to construct a large-scale hotel differently by using recyclable materials,’ said Lionel Jadot, Designer of the Year at the 30th-anniversary edition of Maison & Objet, which took place at the Parc des Expositions, 5-9 September 2024.

The Belgian designer’s installation, Radical Anthropocene Adhocism, drew on his experiences of art-directing the Mix hotel in Brussels and the Jam hotel chain (already in Brussels, with Jam Hotel Lisbon recently opened, Ghent coming in 2025, and Rome in the pipeline). For each project, Jadot commissions designers from creative hub Zaventum Ateliers as well as local talents. At Maison & Objet, his works made from asphalt were showcased alongside 30 designers, including Xavier Servas’ lamps made from pigs’ intestines, Bel Albatros’ wall coverings made from recycled bags and Mathilde Wittock’s acoustic panels made from a material developed from the roots of plants.

Maison & Objet September 2024 highlights

Upcycled products were spotted on several stands. Nantes-based Instead presented its ‘Newport’ bar stools and chairs made from founder Franck Grossel’s patented eco-material, Le Balt, using brewery grains left over from brewing beer.

In Future on Stage featured three startups. Sungai Design unveiled the ‘Ombak’ lounge chair and ‘Muara’ stool and bench created from river plastic in Bali, cleaned up by its sister NGO Sungai Watch. ‘The idea is to stock as much plastic as possible so that it doesn’t go back into the rivers; I’m typically in the rivers every day so it’s an incredible opportunity to be here learning the world of design,’ said Sam Bencheghib, who co-founded the initiative with siblings Kelly and Gary.

Also in Future on Stage were bespoke wooden wheelchairs by Apollo, launched by wheelchair-user/engineer Paul de Livron, including the model of his wheelchair made for the Pope, whom Livron met at the Vatican. Finally, Konqrit’s handcrafted fibreglass bathtubs were designed by Buenos Aires-based Cecilia García Galofre.

In the Rising Talents Awards, highlighting designers from northern Europe, Iceland’s Studio Flétta (Birta Rós Brynjólfsdóttir and Hrefna Sigurðardóttir) showed pendant lamps made from discarded sporting trophies as well as felted wool pizzas made from leftovers from the Icelandic wool industry. The studio won the Icelandic Design Award 2024 for its project ‘Pizza Time with Flétta and Ýrúrarí’, a five-day performance held during DesignMarch 2023 where felted wool pizzas were made in a machine and sold to customers.

In a new section called The Maison & Object Factory, Rollo Studio founded by Rollo Byant presented the ‘Orbx’ collection of portable lamps. The exquisite 3D-printed mesh structures crafted from black quartz sand were inspired by organic forms in nature, exemplifying a commitment to biophilic design. Also on the platform were Senimo’s stools and side tables that Fabien Colomines crafts in Paris with stacked elements made from wood and lacquer leftovers; James Haywood’s light sculptures made from mineral resins; and Corpus Studio’s ‘Apollo’ coffee table made from Italian lava stone in collaboration with Italian craftsmen.

Maison & Objet tapped trend forecasting agency Peclers Paris to conceive the Terra Cosmos theme, which was interpreted by curator Elizabeth Leriche in the ‘What’s New? In Decor’ space. Among the highlights in the solar- and meteorites-inspired space were Russian designer Sofia Karnukaeva’s white sculptural vessel lamps, Imperfetto Lab’s gold lounge chair and Holländer’s silver spherical wall light.

Other discoveries included Maximilian Jencquel’s hand-carved incense holder in lava stone at When Objects Work; the modern-meets-primitive vases by Maison Polita (Marie-Josée Elissalde and nephew Nicolas) in collaboration with Moroccan artisans, and Zaconi’s richly veined onyx objects that Amsterdam-based Dayinne Potuyt made using stones sourced in South America and the Middle East.

Dotted among the myriad commercial products at the gigantic fair, a fine array of innovative and ecologically responsible projects using unusual materials were on view.

Maison-objet.com
Maison & Objet is a biannual fair, with the next edition scheduled for 16-20 January 2025

Watch Maison et Objet Designer of the Year Michael Anastassiades tour us through his practice

It’s a new decade, but true to form, Paris’ winter cultural offerings roll on in. While the deep dive of Charlotte Perriand’s work stays strong at Foundation Louis Vuitton and fashion troops flocked in for menswear A/W, three new solo shows empower the limelight. Virgil Abloh brings street culture to Galerie Kreo, Herve Van der Straeten invites us onto his fun ride and Daniel Arsham takes us to 3020 at Galerie Perrotin in an exploration of historic sculpture. Inside the Maison et Objet (17-21 January) halls, Michael Anastassides presents his refined mobile lighting, while fresh talent on the French design scene get in the frame.

Explore our highlights from Maison et Objet and beyond

Fun Ride by Hervé Van der Straeten

Over in the Marais district, the French artist-designer brings the whimsical essence of funfairs to his tenth solo show. Zappy (pictured) and Looping are among the names of the new consoles that will entertain viewers – products in lacquered wood and bronze. 35 pieces in total come together in Van der Straeten’s pleasure ground, including the Spider cabinet and Crystalline chandelier, and for added play, he shares the dialogue with the interdisciplinary work of artist duo Arotin & Serghei too – extending the visual treat through colour and light.

Rising Talents Awards

The gaze remains on home turf for the January 2020 edition of the Rising Talents Awards, as six French emerging names, Wendy Andreu, Mathieu Peyroulet Ghilini, Laureline Galliot, Julie Richoz, Adrien Garci (pictured) and Natacha & Sasha, have been chosen by a jury that includes Pierre Charpin, Didier Krzentowski, Guillaume Houzé, Pierre Yovanovitch, René-Jacques Mayer and Françoise Seince. True to the Parisian spirit, many of the designers have had a stint at local institution ENSCI Les Ateliers, while an eclectic range of techniques filter through the work, including cartoon software, hand craft, laser cutting and ecological solutions.

Trame

It may be cooler climes, but new brand Trame is sending us energy from the Mediterranean with its launch of homeware and accessories created with historic stories in mind. The first range travels to Morocco, with hand crafted pieces inspired by stories of Madame de Blois, King Louis XIV’s favourite daughter. Italian designer Maddalena Casadei, London and Warsaw-based Maria Jeglinska and Julie Richoz from Paris have devised this inaugural collection, titled ‘A voyage to Meknes,’ that includes ceramics, rugs, curtains and blankets that are embedded with the artisanal culture of Morocco. Milan-based Studio Vedet have been tapped for the brand’s art director, and the collection will also travel to Salone del Mobile later in the year.

Michael Anastassiades Designer of the Year 2020

One of our shortlisted Designers of the Year, London-based Anastassiades goes full circle for Maison et Objet – the location where he first showed wares from his eponymous studio back in 2007. Over ten years on, he has been very busy, and 2019 marked his first retrospective in his home country of Cyprus. For this special showcase, he brings together all 16 of his Mobile Chandeliers (including some new iterations) with the poetic mastery his studio has become known for. ‘For me, it is important to always show something different, make sure that what I design explores a new idea.’

‘Efflorescence’ by Virgil Abloh at Galerie Kreo

Following two major design launches with both Vitra and Carpenters Workshop Gallery last year, Abloh has been tapped by Galerie Kreo for a street culture range. Architectural concrete forms have been emblazoned with the Chicago-born creative’s graffiti in a merging of eras, from brutalism to street culture. Read more here.

INFORMATION
maison-objet.com

Three figureheads are behind a new Paris-based boutique, La Manufacture: the brainchild of Lebanese entrepreneur Robert Acouri, with his long-time collaborator Milena Laquale as fashion director and Italian designer Luca Nichetto as art director. The trio started engineering the concept eleven months ago as an amalgamation of design, fashion and retail experience – a brand that conveys French allure and Italian craftsmanship.

Raised in Switzerland, Acouri worked in Monaco and Italy in culture and fashion before settling in Paris, where in 2002 he established the Cider Group for the French office furnishings market. ‘Robert’s dream was to create a brand,’ Nichetto says. ‘Cider produces high-quality goods made in Italy, but what the company was missing was a distinctive creative direction.’

Looking back to the celebrated brands of the 1950s, like Herman Miller and Knoll, furniture was originally created for the office market, but as the products were so well thought out, they eventually evolved into household environments. Nichetto explains, ‘Today, the contract market no longer means only offices. There are many different kinds of public or sharing spaces now. For La Manufacture, I defined the typologies that a label needed and identified the designers that in my opinion were best for each typology. Together we worked carefully with CMF (colour, material and finishing) and tried to find a common blend to unite the designs in the collection.’ Oki Sato from Nendo, Ben Gorham, founder of Byredo, Patrick Norguet, Sebastian Herkner, Emma Boomkamp, Todd Bracher, Marco Dessí and Elena Salmistraro are among the first group of creative minds to launch with La Manufacture. 

Collection 01 combines artisanal quality with industrial precision, while French and Italian cultures guide the colours and materials used. Decorative reds, yellows and greens reflect Jean Prouvé’s Maison Tropicale and Antti Lovag’s Maisons Bulles while other hues are reminiscent of the interiors of Piero Portaluppi and Gio Ponti. The whites and greys are a nod to mineral colours from Carlo Scarpa’s and Le Corbusier’s avant-garde architecture. As a result, the collection is a adaptable melding of pieces – some minimalistic, some radical and others that are more classic; and when one starts mixing these, the collection easily moulds to different atmospheres and situations.

For the inaugural fashion collection, Laquale created individual pieces in natural materials that at the same time blended with the design line. The topstitched seams of the t-shirt mirror those of Nendo’s Stack poufs; muted shades are accented by fuchsia and emerald for women and coral and green for men.

Nichetto commissioned his fellow Italian creative agency Studio Blanco for the branding, and the 250 sqm flagship space on rue Édouard VII in Paris epitomises La Manufacturer's philosophy and identity. ‘I tried to make the space clean and basic because the pieces should speak for themselves, and every kind of finishing and materials that we picked are chosen to complement the collections,’ says Nichetto. Natural materials like wood and marble are highlighted by craftsmanship and industrial processes, and subtle uses of the logo can be seen in the organic clay plaster while the bespoke tapestries and wallpaper carry the M monogram.

La Manufacture has a big ambition. ‘It is clear that, especially in France, you have boutique editors like La Chance and Petite Friture, mainstream big names like Ligne Roset and Roche Bobois, and then the maisons like Baccarat and Lalique – but there are no strong concepts in between. La Manufacture is a brand that ranges from furniture to lifestyle accessories to fashion, plus a space that houses a unique retail experience. In a couple of years we plan to open more stores in important cities all around the world.' says Nichetto.

INFORMATION

lamanufacture-paris.fr

ADDRESS

3 rue Edouard VII
75009 Paris

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A hybrid of a gallery, think tank and event space, the newly-opened Maison Dentsu has its large windows facing the Louvre. The furnishings, hand-picked by artistic director Thomas Erber, boasts some Traîneau chairs originally designed in 1976 for the Centre Pompidou, and massive, minimalist vintage desks from the French National Library.

During Paris Design Week, Maison Dentsu presented its first exhibition ‘Marbré(e)’. The title is an old French way to describe a joyfully eccentric person, and works range from highly geometric furniture by Pierre Gonalons to Vincent Loiret’s funky lamp that stands on two tungsten bulbs like on two paws.

All pieces are made of marble – except for the tongue-in-cheek contribution by Mathias Kiss, a series of marble-patterned wallpapers dressing the doorways. A mix of established and emerging names were chosen for the showcase, from interior architect Tristan Auer who presents a one-off Carrara chair to designer Florence Louisy’s thin curved mirror in black Belgian marble.

When asked why marble became the unifier for their inaugural exhibition, Erber gives a threefold response. First of all, marble is such a rare material that is almost on the verge of extinction. And, although the designers could approach it with a grain of playfulness, make no mistake: this material is extremely demanding.

A combination of singularity, eccentricity and expertise resonates with the mission of Maison Dentsu: it plans to actively participate in the culture of Parisian life. Intended as the first of its kind within Dentsu Aegis Network – the world’s fourth biggest communication group that originated in Japan and is now present in 145 countries – it is run by a multifaceted team. Included is long-time explorer of culture and lifestyle trends Thomas Erber; expert in entertainment and luxury Alexandre Sap, plus a number of Dentsu’s specialists in strategy, content creation, and more.

Maison Dentsu wants to build bridges between the usually disconnected domains, skills and passions, thus giving birth to more ambitious projects,’ says Olivier Sebag, the Managing Director at Dentsu Aegis Network and one of the masterminds behind the project. He sees cross-domain work as a winning strategy for everyone involved – from emerging artists striving for visibility to brands trying to reinvent themselves and better connect with their customers. ‘With these new bridges all of us will be able to develop our new virtuous cycles.’

INFORMATION

maison-objet.com

With summer spirit slowly petering, Europe jolts into back-to-school mode with the flurry of Autumn fairs. The September edition of Paris Design Week is a highly anticipated player, kicking off with plenty of brands poised to launch at Maison et Objet fair. This season’s event also includes a focus on US rising talents, and a solo installation of this year’s Designer of the Year, Paris-based Laura Gonzalez. Meanwhile in town, new galleries bloom and group showcases play with perception – keep track of the Wallpaper* highlights here...

Raw Edges for Vitra

‘One of the key elements of the installation is our family's obsession with creating the Herringbone pattern by dipping every possible object in colourful dye at a 45 degrees,’ says Raw Edges about their exhibition for VitraHaus last year. The theme stems from the London-based designer’s Salone del Mobile 2016 exhibition that saw the duo experiment with the technique to create the Herringbone’s ambient effect. At Maison et Objet, they are launching an accessory collection with this pattern for the first time, a range of pillows, wooden trees and vessels, all taking on pigmented pattern in unique ways.

MaisonDentsu

New gallery on the block, Maison Dentsu are inaugurating with an installation on marble. Alluding to the old French expression ‘He (she) is well marbled!’ referencing someone’s persona that is inclined go away from the norms, they are inviting French designers including Ora Ito, Matthais Kiss, José Levy, Florence Louisy and Pierre Frey to showcase their works in intriguing marble tones from Peach blossom to Belgium Black. Maison Dentsu encourage guests to discover these eclectic pieces in the homely gallery aura that is described a ‘space for co-creation and think-tank.'

Trans: Forming Design from Poland

Polish design and manufacturing gets a moment in the spotlight at the fair. In a new initiative by Polish Agency for Enterprise Development, designers are being paired with manufacturers from the country in an effort to boost the industry’s design credentials. Ten collaborations will debut, marking a new moment for Polish-made and branded furniture. Read more about the initiative here.

Anima at Galerie Diurine

Inside Marcel Zelmanovitch’s woven haven, a new era of rugs launched with a minimal aesthetic in mind. Presented as art pieces against a collection of ceramics by Jean-François Delorme, the wool, linen, hemp or silk muted works hone in on the meticulous craft and materiality. ‘Everything lies and remains in material effects. AMINIMA, for us, means minimal ornamentation. But we could have called this collection “amaxima” as the sole purpose of any ornamentation is to enhance the subtle matter produced by our craftsmanship, as much and as best as possible,’ says Zelmanovitch.

Ann Demeulemeester for Serax

For the fashion designer’s first foray into homeware, she looked to the elements, earth, fire and water for experimental pieces for Belgian brand Serax. Launching at Maison et Objet, the elegant pieces include cutlery, glassware and artistic plates. Read about Demeulemeester’s inspiration behind the collection here.

Moire Mobile by Ladies & Gentlemen Studio

At Triode Design Gallery, Ladies & Gentlemen Studio presents its latest series of ethereal mobiles at its Visions / Perceptions exhibition. Made of perforated sheets of metal, coerced into different optical forms, moving with the air and overlapping to create an apparent kinetic energy. Made at their Brooklyn studio, these mobiles join new works by fellow US designers, Calico Wallpaper and John Hogan, bringing together a visual fantasy.

INFORMATION

Paris Design Week, 5-14 September; maison-objet.com

‘A thing of beauty is a joy forever,’ Ann Demeulemeester replies when addressing the question of how the objects we choose to surround ourselves with – whether it’s a top or a teacup – impact our lives. The famous Oscar Wilde quote holds true for the Belgian fashion designer with her enduring broody aesthetic, a member of the Antwerp Six cohort, who departed from her namesake brand’s helm in 2014.

It was a life overhaul of sorts. In an effort to close that creative chapter of her life, she moved away from her Antwerp home – Maison Guiette, the house where her son Victor now lives and the only Le Corbusier structure left in Belgium – and into a 19th century country house with a floral park and a vegetable garden located on the outskirts of the province of Antwerp.

‘I wanted to return to the essence of things’, she explains. ‘Nature, growing my own vegetables. Make beautiful objects in which to present them.’ This impulse translated itself into a collection of homewares – porcelain plates and cutlery, glassware – produced with the Belgian company Serax, which will be presented in September at Maison et Objet in Paris.

Demeulemeester turned to the classical elements of earth, water and fire, to ‘experiment with one of the oldest forms of creation.’ The designer had always dreamed of using porcelain and glass as a creative language, and the three-dimensional aspect of sculpting clay was a natural continuation of her very personal creative hunger.

The idea to conceive of homeware lines with Serax took shape after a mutual friend introduced her to the dynamic Belgian company, which is based just 20 minutes from her new home. ‘Much more pleasant than having to take a plane abroad each time’, Demeulemeester tells. ‘We developed a respectful partnership through which I could fully realise my ideas and designs. For Serax, it was a huge challenge to produce my unique pieces on a larger scale, while retaining the craftsmanship.’

The interplay of light and shadow ties the Ra and Dé lines of tableware and the Zoë line of cutlery together, as well as echoing Demeulemeester’s intensely chiaroscuro fashion oeuvre – with red and green as the unexpected accents. ‘My whole life I’ve been preoccupied with beauty. It’s my passion, my “raison d’être”’, Demeulemeester explains. ‘I enjoy being able to make whatever it is I need, what challenges me, what I dream of’.

INFORMATION

anndemeulemeester.com; serax.com

When it comes to making furniture, few nations are as prolific as the Poles. An estimated 30,000 furniture manufacturers pepper the country. The sector has mushroomed since the end of communism’s austerity, when enterprising entrepreneurs such as former electrician Jerzy Karwacki saw a gap in the market. ‘I couldn’t get the tooling, so I started by hand-making furniture in my garage.’ Thirty years on, his business DEVO has 65 employees turning out 1,500 pieces of bathroom furniture a month.

Like many businesses in Poland, DEVO is a supplier to western European and Scandinavian furniture brands. These relationships can last for decades, but there is still a sense of vulnerability. ‘We need DEVO to be well-known so it’s not reliant on one or two customers,’ explains DEVO managing director Mariusz Chrostowski, ‘because we’re not selling under our own brand, we’re replaceable.’

Karwacki hopes to put DEVO on the map with a range of ‘designer’ bathroom furniture. Called Mood, it’s the creation of up-and-coming Polish design firm Grynasz Studio. With its combining of wood and powder coated steel, and its wall-mounted hanging unit, Karwacki thinks he could have a hit on his hands. ‘Noone’s ever designed a piece of bathroom furniture like it before,’ he believes.

The tie-up with Grynasz comes courtesy of the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development. Through its Grants for Design programme, it has paired Polish designers with manufacturers in an effort to boost the industry’s design credentials. In total ten collaborations – heavily supported by EU funding – will debut at Paris’ Maison et Objet fair in September, heralding a new dawn of designed and branded Polish furniture.

Until the 1950s, it was common for Polish furniture makers to commission designers. But communism put paid to that, and with Poland’s more recent role as the China of Europe (for furniture production), the habit has been lost. The programme’s design managers including Monika Brauntsch have forged new links – introducing many of the manufacturers to their first designers. ‘The aim for each is to find a niche in the market and to create a new brand,’ she says.

As well as Grynasz Studio and DEVO, the pairings include designer Magdalena Kasprzyca with 180-strong manufacturer Lech-Pol, which makes 30,000 sofas a year. Kasprzyca’s Sofem seating is inspired by Audrey Hepburn’s hats. ‘We’d like to see it in the French market because we were one of the first Polish furniture companies to go into France,’ says Lech-Pol co-owner Alina Iwanicka. With its quirky profile and slender legs, Sofem is a far cry from Lech-Pol’s typical big, deep, cushioned L-shaped sofas, complete with adjustable headrests. But Lech-Pol’s three women owners are so taken with Kasprzyca’s input that they plan to produce the three other concepts she first presented to them.

Many of the manufacturers see their new ranges as a chance to change perceptions. ‘Rather than making money, I want to be recognised as a company that invests in design and has a connection with tradition,’ says manufacturer Slawomir Sikorski of his new offering, Splot. Designed by seven-strong Beza Projekt, the freestanding furniture references weaving (‘splot’ in Polish), a traditional craft in the Podlasie region, which is home to Sikorski Supreme Furniture. Other designers working magic are Kowalczyk-Gajda Studio, Malafor and Studio Szpunar.

Even with the design managers’ business, design and branding input, these mostly anonymous manufacturers are stepping into the unknown. But they are up for the challenge. As Karwacki of DEVO puts it: ‘I think the grant will translate into a better image of Polish furniture as more “designer”.’

INFORMATION

Maison et Objet runs from 5-10 September. maison-objet.com

Last season, Maison et Objet (18-22 January) changed its format, separating the show into two distinct categories: home interior, and objects and accessories. This may have initially thrown its regular visitors off course, but it soon proved that a reconfiguration didn’t mean a change in quality. With over 600 new brands on show, there is much on display this January from international players, including German designer Sebastian Herkner as guest of honour and flourishing talents from China, to new offerings beyond the fairground, at Parisian galleries in town.

Swirl by Tom Dixon

This family of bookends, vases and candleholders are a totemic addition to the British brand’s repertoire. Playfully paired and sculpturally stacked, the pieces aim to resemble 3D marbled paper, but offer the surprising weight of a stone object. The real material? A new cocktail of pigment, resin and recycled residue from the marble industry.

‘Nouveau’ by Bernhardt-Vella for Ex.t

Florentine bathroom brand Ex.t tap bathroom newcomers, Milan-based studio Bernhardt-Vella, for a collection that takes its cues from early 20th-century art deco. The range of asymmetric washbasins and cabinets are available in brass or black finishes for a shapely bathroom set. ‘We've translated a serene and discreet elegance into purity, with a balance of lines and shapes, lightness and airiness,' the duo describe the contemporary collection that includes mirrors and invites multiple configurations.

‘Curl’ coat rack by Kaschkasch for Blomus

The functionality of this new coat rack is a result of its design evolution. Realised by Cologne-based duo Kaschkasch for Blomus, its undulating metal silhouette eradicates the need for traditional ‘hooks’, and it is elegantly shaped at an angle for the 3D look. Arriving in muted hues, Curl is a sophisticated, yet subtle storage tool.

‘Barrel’ by Philippe Malouin for SCP

Described as ‘brutalist home objects,’ Malouin’s latest project for the London manufacturer and retailer includes a coffee table, dining table, bench, stool and side table. The simple wooden structure is a result of the repetition of planks to create a base that mimics wine or whiskey barrels.

Sebastian Herkner as Designer of the Year

With 21 projects under his belt in 2018 alone, it was an easy decision for Maison et Objet to choose Herkner as star of the show. Based in Frankfurt, his work combines craft with a modern eye for colour, and he showcases this in an installation at the fair. ‘Different cultures, skills and lifestyles all fuel my inspiration,’ he says of his breadth of work. Herkner also celebrates new launches at the fair including these new ‘Echino' side tables with blown glass legs for Italian brand Zanotta.

Ikkis

Launching at Maison et Objet is Indian brand Ikkis (‘21’ in Hindi). An ode to the rituals of India, the 21-strong collection gives traditional pieces a modern spin like the chai glass or diya (oil lamp, pictured). Founder and creative director Gunjan Gupta aims to put craftspeople of India in the spotlight with this launch, showcasing unique techniques and materials, like terracotta coating that is paired with stone, glass, and copper.

Rising Talents Awards China

In September 2018, the Rising Talents Awards focused on Lebanese designers, while this January edition, Maison et Objet turns to the finest emerging designers in China. Frank Chou, Chen Furong, Mario Tsai, Hongjie Yang, Ximi Li and Bentu have been chosen for their dynamic contribution to the country’s creative scene. 

‘With the rapid growth of the Chinese economy and the need for a cultural expression of its own, we see a large number of emerging designers that have started to create their own voice that deals with issue of heritage and identity,’ says jury member Lyndon Neri of Neri&Hu. Pictured, ‘The Middle Chair’ by Frank Chou takes its cues from traditional Chinese bamboo chairs that are adorned with a piece of metal at the end of the armrest.

Monaco by Uto Soulful lighting

Inspired by mobile art sculptures, these customisable suspension lights are a playful new launch from Portuguese brand Uto Soulful lighting. Made up of opaque glass globes and alternating brass elements, the different textures and shapes provide a unique silhouette that is as ornamental as it is functional.

‘Serie 01’ by Pool and Atelier François Pouenat at Gallery Joyce

Heritage brand Atelier François Pouenat joins forces with Paris-based duo Pool for an exhibition that explores how heritage metal craft combines with contemporary design vision. ‘Serie 01’ includes eight pieces by Paul Loebach, Fredrick Paulsen, Fabien Cappello and Pool themselves and ranges from shelving to benches, all made of aluminium, brass, steel, and more. Read more here.

INFORMATION

Maison et Objet is on view 18-22 January. For more information, visit the website

Varennes-Vauzelles-based Atelier François Pouenat is a family company built on metalwork skills passed down through five generations. Now led by François Pouenat, the brand continues to tap into its alloy heritage, offering outstanding quality in its ranges, which run the gamut from door handles to windows

In 2012, the artisan workshop recognised the talent of Paris-based studio, Pool. ‘I am an avid admirer of Léa Padovani and Sébastien Kieffer’s work,’ says François Pouenat of the duo who formed Pool in 2010. ‘Their professionalism is indisputable, and I appreciate their unwavering standards.’ What ensued is a sculptural collection including a table, suspended light and vase.

That wasn’t the end of Pool’s collaboration with the heritage brand, they have since overhauled the branding, including graphics and visual identity. ‘François is a true listener and lover of design. He and his team have a huge love for what they do.’ says Padovani and Kieffer of what makes the atelier so unique. ‘This is why they all followed us on this journey, and it was not [always] easy, but they never say "this is not possible," they find solutions.’

For their latest collaborative endeavour, they have invited three other designers to take part in a show at Gallery Joyce, coinciding with Maison et Objet (18 – 22 January). Hosted by Atelier François Pouenat and art directed by Pool, the collection is titled ‘Serie 01’ and includes eight pieces by Paul Loebach, Fredrick Paulsen, Fabien Cappello and Pool themselves.

The exhibition took three years to put together, and showcases how contemporary designer vision can be bought to life by the metal atelier. Mexico City-based Cappello explores the sculptural sides of steel, copper and aluminium, weaving this into metal’s functionality by building a stool that incorporates a footrest. Meanwhile Stockholm-based Paulsen used fundamental tubes for colour experiments with tinted steel for his ‘Ror’ bench and brushed brass for the ‘Ror’ coffee table.

In this way, the endless possibilities of steel, brass, aluminium and more is explored in the collection. Pool were keen to unearth new perspectives of François’ work by choosing these young designers from across the globe. They express a joy for collaboration too, and how they hope for a second series, ‘we love to put people together.’

INFORMATION
‘Serie 01’ is on view until 30 January. For more information, visit the Gallery Joyce website

ADDRESS

Joyce Art Gallery
168 Galerie de Valois
75001 Paris

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As summer draws to a close, the design calendar starts filling up and Paris Design Week’s autumn edition is always a highlight. This year, the week’s cornerstone event Maison et Objet fair is restructuring its layout to align with its core themes, ‘Maison' and ‘Objet'. Meanwhile in town, the fair’s young talent show Le Off moves to a temporary art venue owned by the national railway company SNCF, while in galleries, designers celebrate new launches and group shows, with a focus on Lebanese design appearing across the board. Here’s our edit of five exhibitions to look out for...

‘Supernova’ by David/Nicolas at Carpenters Workshop Gallery

Celestial new works by the Lebanese designers will go on view for the first time at Carpenters Workshop Gallery. The collection of tables, cabinets and rugs channel their ‘retro-futuristic' aesthetic and mirrors Beirut’s cosmic cycle; the designers muse ‘a Supernova is the death of a star which results in either a black hole or a supernova, here, death is only a transformation, it outshines everything else and evolves into a new life’. Pictured: the making of ‘070’ dining table, in travertino navona with silvered brass. Photography: Alessandro Furchino Capria

6 September - 6 October 2018; 54 Rue de la Verrerie, 75004 Paris; www.carpentersworkshopgallery.com

‘Modernity of Brazilian Design from 1950 to 1980’ at Galerie Chastel-Maréchal

Post-war Brazil’s fertile hub of modernist design has long been an interest of gallerist Aline Chastel, and now she is opening a show of 21 pieces by seven designers including Sergio Rodrigues and José Zanine Caldas at her Paris space. All works are set on a vibrant painted backdrop by Vincent Darre allowing the undulating muscularity and occasionally rustic charm of the mostly wooden pieces to stand out. Read more here. Photography: Agence Phar / V. Luc & J. Beylard

6 September - 31 October; Galerie Chastel-Maréchal, 5 rue Bonaparte, 75006 Paris; www.chastel-marechal.com

‘Land’ by Raphael Navot at Galerie Diurne

The Parisian designer will showcase six new creations, one tapestry and five handwoven rugs, for Galerie Diurne’s third instalment of ‘Signature’ shows by contemporary designers. Navot has been a long-time collector of satellite images from around the globe, and these land views, from Boundary Bend in Australia to Liji in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, are intricately woven into rug patterns using materials including linen, silk and wool. Pictured: ‘Ikatu (by night)’ et du banc ‘Bridge.’ © Vincent Leroux.

14 September - 15 December; Galerie Diurne 50, Rue Jacob - 75006 Paris; www.diurne.com

Ha Porcelain at Maison et Objet

Aside from the layout shake up, Maison et Objet will be presenting its staple exhibitions including Designer of the Year, this year Ramy Fischler, and Rising Talent Awards that is focusing on six emerging Lebanese designers. In addition, designer Sebastian Bergne and porcelain experts Tokyo Saikai will be launching Ha, a new minimalist ceramics brand that uses southern Japanese techniques. Imbued with a dose of wit in the colours and design, they encourage individuals to live in harmony with nature.

7-11 September; Maison et Objet ZAC Paris Nord 2, 93420 Villepinte; www.haporcelain.com

‘Beyrough’ at Gallery S. Bensimon

Coinciding with the Rising Talent Awards exhibition at Maison et Objet, Gallery S. Bensimon are also celebrating Lebanese creativity with a show of works from David/Nicolas, Hala Matta, Marc Baroud and more. In collaboration with Beirut’s Joy Mardini Design Gallery, they present a dynamic showcase of the contemporary Lebanese design landscape ranging from sculptural lighting from Carla Baz, rose gold and walnut mirrors by Marc Dibeh from 2013 and playful vessels by Richard Yasmine made for JCP Universe this year (pictured). Photography: Silvio Macchi

6 September - 29 October; Gallery S. Bensimon; 111 Rue de Turenne, 75003 Paris; www.gallerybensimon.com

INFORMATION

Paris Design Week is on view 6-15 September. For more information, visit the website

‘Going into the archive room and finding a door handle is part of the magic of working with them’, says Stéphane Parmentier musefully, when recalling the many years he has worked with Maison Vervloet.

More than a century old today, the Brussels-based atelier that creates high-end handcrafted hardware is a favourite among top-tier designers like Paris-based Parmentier. ‘Everybody in my field loves this company, as it makes no compromises on style or quality’, he says, calling the Belgian family-owned company ‘one of the best hardware companies in the world.’

Maison Vervloet is known for its extensive collection of door handles, but most of all for its exceptional team of artisans who don’t shy away from any technical challenges. With Parmentier’s ‘Starlight’ and ‘Stardust’ collections, both launching at Maison & Objet in September, they venture much further than the usual door, window and furniture handles. It has become a true lifestyle collection, an idea that arose after many conversations. ‘Stéphane didn’t have just one idea, but ten at a time,’ says Isabelle Hamburger, director of Maison Vervloet. ‘When he presented his sketches to us we [were] convinced immediately – stunned that he understood the direction we wanted to go in so well, without having to explain it.’

The industrial-style Stardust collection consists of door handles and doorknobs that integrate Parmentier’s signature ‘double zero’ motif, developed further through elongations and distortions.

The perfect perforations are found here – described by Parmentier as ‘tattooed on the collection like an industrial code’ – were a technical feat that proved challenging to the artisans on the atelier team. To Parmentier’s delight, they persisted – and succeeded in creating meticulous circular perforations even in the smooth curvatures of the handles.

Alongside these straightforwardly functional pieces, Parmentier, renowned for his knack for graphic experimentation, also created the enigmatic ‘Starlight’ collection, which comprises limited edition objects ranging from desk accessories, a side table, a box set and a totem set. These last two, named ‘Motu’, can be seen as families, or ‘petites architectures that live on their own or in a group: like people do’, explains Parmentier.

‘Each box is a small altar devoted to beauty and craftsmanship’, says the designer, who looked to the idea of gods and symbols from Maori culture for the objects’ aesthetics. The solid bronze totems, which have an aluminium base covered with pure gold, have no function as such, Parmentier admits, ‘but on the other hand, I would say that beauty is a kind of function for me. I tried to have this feeling of graphic and vibrant shapes. They are very sensual and mysterious at the same time: like little gods keeping an eye on you.’

INFORMATION

The Starlight and Stardust collections will launch 7-11 September at Maison et Objet. For more information, visit the Maison Vervloet website

All year round, we journey through design weeks, fairs and galleries scouring for the most refined, innovative and spectacular designs from across the globe. From sublime exhibition sets and nifty product launches to compelling collaborations and sophisticated new brands, we bring you our guide of the best in design for 2018...

Bec Brittain installation at Want Les Essentiels

For over a decade, the Canadian label Want Les Essentiels has defined what travelling in style can be. To coincide with the appointment of a new creative director Christine Charlebois at the helm, the label will host a series of designer showcases at its West Village boutique in Manhattan, devoted to the furniture, lighting, sculpture and visual arts worlds. Its inaugural presentation kicks off with a custom-designed lighting installation from the designer Bec Brittain. The installation riffs on Brittain’s Shy Beam design; ‘Climbing Beams’ that connect the wall to the ceiling, while ‘Flags’, which pair the brass tube lighting with sheets of smoked and coloured glass, appear to creep up the walls. Writer: Pei-Ru Keh

Want Les Essentiels, 301 West 4th Street, New York, NY 10014, USA

Warby Parker hand mirrors collection

The handheld mirror has always been a component of the Warby Parker experience. In all of the eyewear label’s stores, portable mirrors that resemble ping pong paddles have long been kept at the ready for customers’ use. In fact, the mirrors have become such a presence that Warby Parker approached eight designers from New York and Los Angeles to reimagine the staple accessory. Ranging from Brendan Ravenhill’s elegantly angled brass and aluminium piece (pictured) to Egg Collective’s playful, kinetic sculptures and Chen Chen and Kai Williams’ archaeological dripped cement versions, each of the eight lighthearted renditions are being displayed in Warby Parker’s Greene Street (New York) and Abbot Kinney (Los Angeles) stores for the next two weeks. They will are also up for sale during this time on Paddle 8, with all proceeds benefitting Free Arts – an organisation that empowers undeserved youth through arts and mentoring programs that help develop their skills, confidence and creativity. Writer: Pei-Ru Keh

Zero Space at Musashino Art University, by Igarashi Design Studio

Igarashi Design Studio has revealed the Zero Space at Musashino Art University in Tokyo. A moment of calm amidst the busyness of university life, the space is dedicated to both independent and group study, and geared to accommodate its students’ dynamic working habits. The core design motif is inspired by a river: soft, rounded pebble benches direct the flow of visitors meandering through the space. Highly flexible, the benches can be freely rearranged and stacked at will to help stimulate ticking minds at work. Meanwhile, the internal lighting (designed in collaboration with Yuko Yamashita) is carefully controlled to get the best out of the space. During the day, natural light is sourced from a pair of sprawling 35 m tall windows. At night, hidden overhead lighting bounces off the wooden floor giving the zero-shaped panel at the room’s heart a gentle glow. Photography: Nacasa & Partners Inc. Writer: Luke Halls

Musashino Art University, 1 Chome-736 Ogawacho, Kodaira, Tokyo 187-0032, Japan

‘Lane’ and ‘Primavera’ tiles, by Barber & Osgerby, for Mutina

Design duo Barber & Osgerby are no stranger to tile design. Once more teaming up with Italian brand Mutina, the London-based studio have revealed a pair of new releases at Cersaie ceramic tile and bathroom furnishings fair in Bologna: ‘Lane’ and ‘Primavera’. The former is inspired by an abstract exploration of colour, informed by a detailed study of London’s architecture and neighbourhoods, and is available in 12 variants of white, black, grey, aubergine and terracotta. Meanwhile, ‘Primavera’ visually emulates the natural environment through randomly enclosed coloured ceramic inserts that highlight the imperfections of nature. ‘Primavera’ comes in white, grey, blue, green and black hues, and 22 per cent of each tile is made from recycled raw materials, highlighting the duo’s reverence for nature. Writer: Luke Halls

(Montblanc M) RED, by Montblanc and Marc Newson

Montblanc has rekindled its design love affair with Marc Newson on (Montblanc M) RED, a new writing instrument raising funds in the fight against AIDS. Available as a ballpoint, fountain pen and roller ball pen, it combines precious red resin with Newson’s smooth, geometric aesthetic, evoking classic Montblanc fluidity and seamlessness. ‘For over 110 years, Montblanc has built a heritage of creating fine writing instruments that have a special meanings to its owners,’ explains Montblanc CEO Nicolas Baretzki. ‘Through our partnership with (RED) we continue this long tradition, creating a special lifetime companion that makes a real impact by supporting the goal towards an HIV-free society.’ (Montblanc M) RED is also accompanied by a selection of new accessories, including a red Italian calfskin sketch book; a bracelet in woven red leather, with a decorated stainless steel closing; and a pair of stainless steel cufflinks. For every piece from the collection purchased, €5 goes to the Global Fund to support HIV/AIDS programmes. Writer: Luke Halls

Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden museum shop, by Studio Chmara.Rosinke

Dresden’s cultural institution Staatliche Kunstsammlungen has recently had its museum shop overhauled by Studio Chmara.Rosinke. Going against the grain of the typical museum shop layout, the listed 16th-century corner tower has been updated to reduce visitor congestion. Monochrome fixtures and furnishings match the circular floorplan, and are suitably shaped to streamline visitor flow, orbiting around a central hanging black chandelier. In addition, the Vienna-based studio looked to present the shop as ‘an alternative to the normal cash desk’, formatting the room more as an information hub. Visitors can now discover more about each featured exhibition prior to entry, and learn more about the institution’s various historic museums and buildings. Photography: courtesy Studio Chmara.Rosinke. Writer: Luke Halls

Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Residenzschloss, Taschenberg 2, 01067 Dresden, Germany

Edelman's Dubai office, by Pallavi Dean Interiors

Emirates-based design firm Pallavi Dean Interiors has delivered the glossy new Dubai office for global communications firm Edelman. Building on the success of its Abu Dhabi outpost, the design was elevated to sky-high premiums with its 1000 sq m kaleidoscopic interior, comprising a network of ‘cultural villages’. From Civic Square, the main reception area, to a lunch hub called Urban Park to a Go Bananas creative lounge, the vibrant interiors strike the balance between playful and sophisticated, appealing to seasoned experts and modern millennials alike. While each ‘village’ features a variety of bold colour palettes and workstations complete with pieces by Lignet Roset and La Palma (among others), national talents are also celebrated. Emirati designer Khalid Shafar produced a custom-made wall installation for the reception, using the Iqal worn by local men, while artist Zeinab Al Hashemi displays satellite images of Dubai’s dazzling desert playground. By creating a connection to the firm’s Abu Dhabi space, but still retaining its own identity, Edelman’s Dubai den takes office design to daring new heights. 

Photography: Pankaj Anand. Writer: Jessica-Christin Hametner

Tomorrow’s Tigers at Sotheby’s

Auction house Sotheby’s is set to open an exhibition of bespoke rug designs by 11 renowned artists including Anish Kapoor, Maya Lin and Reena Saini Kallat who have been appointed by WWF for its Tomorrow’s Tigers fundraising project. Taking cues from the Tibetan tiger rug, each artist has been commissioned to realise a design that rug specialists Christopher Farr will bring to life via unique weaving and hand dying techniques. The initiative has been curated by Artwise and the artist rugs will go on view alongside rare 19th century woven antique tiger versions in January 2019. The limited edition rugs will start at £10,000 and funds raised go towards WWF’s aim to double the number of endangered tigers in the wild by 2022, the next Chinese year of the tiger. Pictured, detail of Rose Wylie’s design. © Christopher Farr 

11-17 January 2019, Sotheby’s London, 34-35 New Bond Street, London W1S 2RT UK

Carl Hansen & Son, Osaka

Danish design stalwarts Carl Hansen & Son open up its second Japan flagship, this time in Osaka’s hip Minami-Horie district. Classics by the likes of Arne Jacobsen, Poul Kjærholm and Hans J. Wegner stand alongside contemporary designs by Tadao Ando and Naja Utzon in an industrial-style space that is doused in concrete and subtle tones of wood. The aesthetic provides a different experience to its Tokyo sister, but still offers the Danish design package is sought after by the Japanese market. ‘Japan and Denmark share a design tradition that values minimalism, functionalism, and outstanding craftsmanship,’ says Knud Erik Hansen, CEO of Carl Hansen & Son. ‘We look forward to showcasing our exceptional furniture and welcoming all design enthusiasts.’

1-15-22, Minami-Horie, Nishi-Ku, Osaka City, 550-0015 Osaka-fu, Japan

Mater Earth Gallery

Set on the outskirts of Clerkenwell and its flurry of design showrooms is Danish brand Mater‘s Earth Gallery. Opened inside a residential building, the naturally lit space houses the Copenhagen-based design brand’s collection that takes a step in a sustainable and ethical direction. At the front of the showroom, a materials lab-style set up demonstrates the brand’s use of recycling, presenting the raw material of aluminium and natural cane against the end product. The showroom also includes the newest collection from international talents including Mexican designer José de la O’s LED pendant, in addition to staples in the collection like the Double Bottle vase by Eva Harlou, designer of the concept store itself, and its Copenhagen version too.

Mater‘s Earth Gallery 36A Myddelton St, Clerkenwell, London EC1R 1UA

Alysi boutique by Studiopepe

oused within a building from the 1600s in Brera, Milan is a new boutique for Italian fashion brand Alysi, designed by Studiopepe. The contemporary interior uses a muted palette and an architectural arch motif to shape a feminine salon space, something that the design duo are experts in following their private members’ club installation at Salone del Mobile this year. Almost an installation itself, the boutique is divided into three sections, connected by an archway tunnel joining the shopping areas, together with a mixture of copper, plaster and marble. At the end of the boutique, a dressing room appears as a futuristic silver lounge with linear textures in the curtain, ceiling and mirrors, providing a holistic shopping environment.

Alysi, Via Ponte Vetero 6, Milano

Danish Design Centre at BLOX

Multi-disciplinary practice Spacon & X have realised a dynamic interior space for the Danish Design Centre’s new home at BLOX, Copenhagen’s latest design and architecture hub. The bright space, designed with sustainability and flexibility in mind, focuses on open source design as a key part of its architectural blueprint. Design classics like PH lamps and Fredericia Furniture pieces are paired with custom-made items crafted from materials including plexiglass and recycled plastic, which fulfil the changing needs, behaviour and circumstances of the creative office. The bold interior creates an ideal environment for the fast-paced digital working world. Writer: Jessica-Christin Hametner. Photography:  Julie Due

BLOX, Bryghuspladsen 8, 1473 København K

Voting inventions

With his Objects for Voters project, Frieder Bohaumilitzky has created a still life of the democratic process. Inspired by last September’s ultimately indecisive federal election, Bohaumilitzky decided to redesign the required voting items for the elections of the German parliament. ‘Political communication has changed, but the procedure of voting itself is still remarkably undesigned,’ he says. The ballot box, polling booth and supervisor’s table are all reinvented with style and seriousness, as sober, neutral objects with a friendly curve and a colour scheme that’s studiously neutral. ‘I used only black, white and the natural colour of wood,’ the designer notes. The bent wood is also meant to evoke the interiors and facilities in German public buildings. Bohaumilitzky combined his design studies with a course in political science, and the objects for Voters take a welcome cross-disciplinary approach.  Available from Objects for Voters. Photography: Niklas Taleb. Writer: Jonathan Bell

Utah and Taro by East Fork

Timeless, usable dinnerware is the calling card of East Fork, a ceramics company based in Asheville, North Carolina. Founded by Alex and Connie Matisse (Henri Matisse is Alex’s great-grandfather), East Fork has been using artisanal pottery methods to make functional objects for daily use since 2009. Coinciding with the move from using a wood kiln to gas firing, the studio has added two new glazes to its existing palette of neutral tones – a peach-toned terracotta called Utah, and an earthy lilac called Taro. Conceived by creative director Connie and then brought to life by the team’s glaze chemist, these new matte glazes have been specifically developed and tested rigorously as they are rarely seen in traditional stoneware. Available in all of East Fork’s weighty, sculptural designs, the new hues are perfect for mixing and matching.

Writer: Pei-Ru Keh

Designer Stefano Giovannoni launched his online furniture brand Qeeboo back in 2015 with a collection of colourful plastic furniture. He is now reissuing the designs with a chrome finish created using nanotechnology. In a first for furniture and design objects, atomised particles are removed from a piece of brass, aluminium or copper in a high-vacuum atmosphere, and coated on the plastic product. One of the designs being treated with this technique is Studio Job’s ‘Flash’ lamp, which gives corporeal form to the rays of a torch. For the studio’s Job Smeets, the torch has a personal significance, as well as a practical one. ‘I once had my power turned off because I forgot to pay the bill, so here I am lighting the whole place with “Flash”. It’s the saviour of the universe.’

The Qeeboo shop is open 17 – 22 April, at Fiera Porta Sud, Palazzo Visconti and Hotel NHow, Milan, at Salone del Mobile. Photography: Rebecca Scheinberg. Interiors: Maria Sobrino. Writer: Rosa Bertoli

As originally featured in the May 2018 issue of Wallpaper* (W*230)

The secrets of St James’s

Architectural practice Squire & Partners are offering up a bird’s eye view of St James’s with an interactive map display as part of the market’s new exhibition. Traveling around the key locations, the map produces a narrative of the historic area revealing cultural secrets like where did John meet Yoko? Or where did Jimi Hendrix play his first UK gig? The experience has been elevated with a theme tune too, a curated soundtrack of Frederic Chopin’s Nocturne In E Flat Major, Op.9 No.2.

St James’s Market, SW1Y 4AH, Regent St, London

Gum flagship Milan

Italian architect Antonio Barbieri was commissioned to create a new look for Milan’s Gum flagship store. Barbieri created a multicoloured space designed to bring to life the bright leathers of the Florentine accessories brand; painting walls and ceilings an unassuming neutral tone, he added layers of glass and mirror in jewel hues, creating an impactful effect of lights, shadows and reflections. Since 1999, the architect has worked with fashion brands such as Gucci, Emilio Pucci and Max Mara, and designed independent boutiques all over Italy and abroad. This latest project lets the architect’s more playful side, mixing colour and material to create ‘a space where light goes through and bounces’.

Gum Milan, Corso Garibaldi, 34, Milan. Writer: Rosa Bertoli

A/D/O Water Futures Research Program

With the world’s water crisis feeling increasingly real these days, curator and water conservationist Jane Withers has launched a new multi-pronged research program together with A/D/O, the Brooklyn-based research centre dedicated to pushing the boundaries and future of design. During the kick off event last week, which featured a water tasting designed by Arabeschi di Latte, Withers and A/D/O unveiled the year-long program that will focus on three themes: harvesting the sky, pollution and purification and drinking local. Each theme will also be accompanied by a dedicated installation, exhibition and series of events and workshops. What’s more, the program has also issued a call for entries for new design ideas to tackle the harmful drinking water culture today. With competition categories ranging from future objects and materials to future information design, the open call will culminate in a final exhibition in early 2019. Pictured: unglazed clay cups from India are used for drinking water and tea and, once discarded, dissolve back into the earth. Writer: Pei-Ru Keh

849 Alexander Girard pen

Three iconic creative forces come together for a playful collaboration. The Swiss mastery of Maison Caran d’Ache meets Alexander Girard’s graphic prints and Vitra’s creative ingenuity for a charming new pen design. The 849 Alexander Girard is a decorative piece with the Double Triangle and Check Stripes patterns taking up the body of the sleek 849 hexagonal model, that is a part of Vitra’s spring accessories collection.

Writer: Sujata Burman

New brand Bassines

Following the success of his luxury kitchen brand, La Cornue, French visionary Xavier Dupuy launches a venture that takes him into new territory: bathrooms design. In an attempt to revive the art of metalwork, and in particular French copperware, he has released a range of contemporary sinks. Titled Bassines, Dupuy creates the brand with long-time partner, designer Laurent Besseas with sleek modern basins in stainless steel, gold, copper and black.

Available from Bassines. Writer: Sujata Burman

Globe-Trotter x Paul Smith

Globe-Trotter’s 20” classic navy trolley case is getting a Paul Smith makeover. The luxury travel brand has tapped the British fashion designer for a limited edition collection which sees Smith add a splash of colour to the carry-on with his ‘Artist Stripe’ pattern on the handle and corners of the trolley. Available in a range of hues, the playful pieces merge art and fashion to make a unique travel companion. The range will be presented at the Paul Smith boutique in Milan during Salone del Mobile (18 – 22 April 2018).

20” Trolley Case (Paul Smith) [Signed by Paul Smith], £1,700, available from Globe-Trotter. Writer: Sujata Burman

Cannes Précieux

Back in 1928, Jean Puiforcat set the bar for dinner opulence with the Cannes pattern in flatware. The iconic design was inspired by the architectural façade of Hôtel Martinez in Cannes, and served many of the elite at sophisticated dinner soirées. The French brand is now giving the range an elegant resurgence by adding a hint of onyx, lapis-lazuli, jade and jasper to the handle of the sterling silver pieces. Cannes’s semi precious addition takes the designs up a notch from cutlery to haute couture table jewels.

Cannes Précieux is available by special order from Puiforcat. Writer: Sujata Burman

‘Poli-Piel’ by Jorge Penadés

Jorge Penadés has been giving leather scraps the luxury treatment since his acclaimed graduation project ‘Structural Skin’ (2014). The Spanish designer compresses and glues dyed leather offcuts into long profiles with a grain like marble or wood. ‘Poli-Piel’, a solo show at Madrid gallery Machado-Muñoz, shows him taking his invention in a bold direction. Leather is the common element across eight distinctive pieces of furniture and lighting; buckles and leather straps combine his own material with planes of glass, aluminium and mirror in daring compositions. Marking Penadés' first solo exhibition, ‘Poli-Piel’ also showcases a new technique he has found for coaxing the natural material into structural form. Two conical table lamps have bases of stacked coils, each layer made of rolled and glued leather. The show’s title plays on the Spanish word for ‘Leatherette’ as well as describing many ways to use leather. Until 10 March

Machado-Muñoz, Calle José Marañón, 4, 28010 Madrid, Spain. Writer: Riya Patel

This X That pop-up

Design consultancy This X That fuses architecture and design at its new pop-up store at MOCA’s Geffen Contemporary. The LA-based company invited a selection of emerging architecture practices to contribute limited-edition pieces for the home and garden, including Architecture Office, Besler & Sons, New Affiliates and Welcomecompanions. Our favourite piece has been designed by Jimenez Lai, founder of Bureau Spectacular, who contributed the neon Scribble lamp. Lai translated his passion for architecture into a cartoon-ish design. The lamp supports itself by its own flowing curvature, and can be installed on the floor, tabletop, or on the ceiling. Until 19 March.

Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, 152 North Central Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90012. Writer Luke Halls. Photography:  Injinash Unshin

Kartell pop-up

In a fitting union of Italian prowess, the eye-catching collaboration between Kartell and entrepreneur Lapo Elkann has arrived on American shores via a pop-up space at Barneys New York. Using the innovative wrap technology that fuels his automotive customisation brand, Garage Italia, Elkann has covered a selection of Kartell icons in a series of vibrant patterns and graphics, inspired by both fashion and classic cars. Forty of Kartell’s timeless pieces, including Philippe Starck’s 'Ghost' chair and Antonio Citterio’s 'Glossy' table have been enveloped in energetic racing stripes, shiny chrome and sartorially-inspired plaids. Originally unveiled during Milan Design Week in 2016, the collection is on view and available for purchase at Barneys’ Madison Avenue location until the end of March.

Barneys New York, Madison, 660 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10065. Writer: Pei-ru Keh. Photography: Rick Barroso

Sister City hotel concept

Ace Hotel broke the hospitality mould when it unleashed its irreverent, carefully curated ethos on the world almost two decades ago. This week, its creative arm Atelier Ace announced a new arrival, Sister City, which will be revealed in New York City this autumn. Located off Bowery, one of Manhattan’s most historic thoroughfares, and accessed through a garden on Freeman’s Alley, the new hotel concept promises to use empathy and an aesthetic union of both function and beauty to cater to the modern traveller’s needs. Armed with a rooftop bar, a ground floor restaurant and 200 rooms, this highly anticipated launch is sure to overturn the applecart.

Writer: Pei-Ru Keh

'Apollo' by Achille Salvagni

Achille Salvagni is inspired by 1960s science fiction set designs for the Spring transformation of his showroom. He turned to Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey when building his own space capsule right inside the Mayfair atelier. The Roman designer uses some of his classics alongside new product to realise the retro-futuristic set; white washed panelled walls and ceilings are accompanied by portholes to metaphorically look out into the galaxy. The product lends itself to the fantasy too; new circular wall sconces sit in twos and threes to look particularly celestial while chairs and stools appear as extraterrestrial friends. ‘As commercial space tourism takes shape, I created my own interpretation of a space capsule.’ says Salvagni, ‘I wanted to imagine a futuristic yet opulent interior with highly crafted pieces, design a personal response to the imminent exploration of this unchartered territory, another marvel soon to be revealed.’

15 March - 7 September; 12 Grafton St, Mayfair, London W1S 4ER. Photography: Paolo Petrignani. Courtesy of Achille Salvagni Atelier. Writer: Sujata Burman

Wonmin Park at Carpenter’s Workshop Gallery

Wonmin Park’s restrained, yet elegant aesthetic is a long-time favourite of ours, and we were particularly excited when he unveiled his latest venture ‘Plain Cuts’ – an experimental collection of aluminium tables at PAD in London last year. The Paris-based designer is now making his US debut this week at Carpenter’s Workshop Gallery in New York. In addition to showcasing ‘Plain Cuts’, Park’s contemplative pieces are joined by new, unseen additions to his signature ‘Haze’ series of resin works (pictured). Until 14 April.

Carpenter’s Workshop Gallery, 693 5th Avenue, New York, NY 1002. Writer: Pei-Ru Keh

Epic React Flyknit

High design meets lightweight technology in the newest Nike running shoe – Nike Epic React Flyknit. Its minimalist focus reflects its functions, using a lightweight cushioning foam with maximum energy return. ‘That unique React Foam pattern was created after thousands of iterations, which were made possible because we’ve used computational design,’ says Nike’s senior director for global running footwear, Bret Schoolmeester. ‘The final design makes the midsole softer in areas where runners exert higher pressure and more stable near the edges and sidewall where runners need increased stability’. And it’s a treat for the eyes too – the rippling pattern together with the stokes of blue and neon pink at the rear of the model (available in a white version too) adds a certain playful energy, while maintaining its three goals – flexibility, breathability and support.

The Nike Epic React Flyknit will be available 22 February from Nike. Writer: Sujata Burman

Norm Architects

Design brand Ariake launched last year with a unique concept of connecting two Japanese furniture manufacturers – Legnatec and Hirata Chair – with an international roster of design talent (Anderssen & Voll and Gabriel Tan to name a few). Next up is Norm Architects, who have launched a chair and sofa that are set to show at Stockholm Furniture Fair next month. For Ariake, the Danish firm joined forces with Brazil-based architect Marcio Kogan (StudioMK27) to realise the ‘Braid’ armchair (pictured). The cultural merging is evident from its design – the modernist structure is inspired by Danish cabinetmakers’ furniture, while the intricate details, like the bamboo construction and tatami mats, echo Eastern influences.

Writer: Sujata Burman

Studio Furthermore at Aram Gallery

East London-based Studio Furthermore was inspired by the rocks, earth and mineral ores of Iceland for its ‘Replica’ series. The ceramics and aluminium alloy collection – currently on show at London’s Aram Gallery – is reminiscent of foamy lava rocks, created through scientific experimentation whereby a copy of the original product is the end-product we see. The range of standing lights, mirrors, pots and tables is coupled with examples of the studio’s tests and a film that takes individuals through the process at the Drury Lane space.

‘Replica’ is on view until 20 January. The Aram Gallery, 110 Drury Lane, WC2B 5SG. Photography: Amandine Alessandra. Writer: Sujata Burman

Primitives

These striking podiums form part of a set of nine. The collection, entitled ‘Primitives’, was designed by Sicilian studio Moncada Rangel and draws inspiration from the abstract shapes of Brancusi. Their simple geometric forms and bold colours create a unique stage upon which even the simplest objects become showstoppers. Each was handmade by graduates of the Made programme at the Academy of Fine Arts in Syracuse. Using plywood and papier-mâché, the students, led by Moncada Rangel, crafted sculptural pieces in keeping with the studio’s aesthetic. This collection certainly turns the tables by upgrading the pedestal from supporting role to star of the show.

Pictured: four pieces from the ‘Primitives’ collection, which was recently acquired by a Sicilian cosmetics brand and is currently being shown in a small gallery and retail space on the island of Ortygia. Illustrator: Julien Savioz. Writer: Mary Cleary

Woody-Zoody

Design duo Formafantasma have created the newest member of the Woody-Zoody family of wooden animals. ‘Toro’ (the Italian word for bull) is a playful wenge wood and brass figurine of a bull, a minimalist interpretation of the animal which features the signature elegance of the pair’s work. ‘We both share a passion for toys, we collect vernacular wooden toys from all over the world,’ say Simone Farresin and Andrea Trimarchi. ‘Children can imagine animals from any shape, and our object for Woody-Zoody starts with an abstract form which becomes a bull with two small brass tubes.’ ‘Toro’ is part of a growing collection of wooden animals, joining the likes of Giacomo Moor’s ‘Toucan’ and Giulio Iacchetti’s ‘Whale’.

Writer: Rosa Bertoli

Rising Talents Awards at Maison et Objet

Each year, Maison & Objet invites six legendary creatives to nominate an upcoming designer for the Paris design fair’s Rising Talents series. This January’s selection includes Federica Biasi, chosen by Andrea Branzi; Guglielmo Poletti, chosen by Rossana Orlandi; and Antonio Facco, chosen by Giulio Cappellini. Says Cappellini, ‘Facco’s projects are largely inspired by his observations of the younger generations.’ With a keen interest in industrial and artisanal techniques, Facco’s portfolio includes works for Cappellini, Antolini and Bolon. In Paris, Facco is presenting a new light for Swedish brand Oblure. ‘Mondo’ (pictured with Facco) features a sphere partially obscured by two shades that can be rotated to create different pattern compositions, transforming its aesthetic while controlling the intensity of the light.

Maison & Objet runs from 19-23 January. Photography: Felicity McCabe. Writer: Rosa Bertoli

The French capital geared up for its bi-annual fiesta of design last week. Textiles were celebrated at Deco Off, new product at the halls of the Maison et Objet fair; while galleries and showrooms across the city were getting in on the action, too. Here’s our hit list of the launches, installations and shows that were unmissable this year.

Pool for CVL Luminaires

Last year, Léa Padovani and Sébastien Kieffer’s studio Pool took over art direction at CVL Luminaires. This year, the emerging talents have created two new designs – a reading light and spotlight – in addition to a new brass version of their ‘Cercle & Trait’ suspension light (pictured). The duo will also created the stand design for the fair, which hosted an exciting new collection by Pauline Deltour.

Mathieu Lehanneur at Christie's Paris

The French designer continues his aquatic agenda with a solo exhibition at the Parisian auction house. ‘50 Seas’ is inspired by the eclectic hues of the oceans – ‘the infinite colour variations of the water reveal our planet’s true complexity’, he muses. The show features 50 enamelled ceramic works (a version of which was created for Wallpaper* Handmade last year) mounted onto the wall, each suggesting a geographic locale, from the Gulf of Guinea to the Bay of Bengal.

Rising Talents awards

Maison et Objet has teamed up with the Italian Trade Agency for the January edition of the Rising Talents awards. Here, a star-studded list of six judges – Andrea Branzi, Rossana Orlandi, Giulio Cappellini, Luca Nichetto, Piero Lissoni and Rosita Missoni – have chosen six exciting emerging Italian designers. For example, Branzi was enthused by the work of 2011 graduate Federica Biasi because of her ‘quintessential design and poetic ideas’. The designer, who is also art director at Mingardo, bought her creative story to an installation at the fair, together with new launches.

Designer of the year

Cecilie Manz has been chosen as the Maison et Objet designer of the year for 2018, for her experimental flair. The Danish designer is displaying her outstanding talents at the fair by creating an installation of new designs, showing how they often intertwine. ‘Gâteau’ (pictured) is inspired by her work with B&O Play and knack for designing in aluminium. A wooden tray is placed on an anodised aluminium ring, acting as a display area for cake (or other equally precious objects).

Pulpo

The German design brand has tapped three different designers – Sebastian Herkner, Hermann August Weizenegger and Michael Schmidt – for its Maison et Objet launches. Herkner’s addition to the collection includes a range of translucent hand-blown glass sidetables in different frosted finishes; while whimsical floor lights by August Weizenegger take cues from the shape of a heron.

INFORMATION

Paris Design Week runs from 19–23 January. For more information, visit the Maison et Objet website

The autumn fair season kicked off in Paris with Maison et Objet and Paris Design Week, welcoming the European design community back from its summer holidays. It was a well-padded schedule, both at the Parc d'Exposition and around town, where galleries had mounted fresh shows; and at the Cité de la Mode, buzzing with emerging talents showing at the Now! Le Off space.

In the exhibition halls, the ‘Objet’ component of the show was strong. In particular, desktop paraphernalia was imagined in many different ways, with exhibitors from Taiwan and China (Yen Objects, TA&D, Ey Products and Kimu, for example) dominating the offering. Established companies such as Hartô and Pulpo bolstered their collections of furniture with small-scale products – lamps, hooks and trays at Hartô, and glassware and carafes at Pulpo – while Minimalux, specialists in perfectly pared-back small-scale accessories, showcased a host of new items, created since recent investment reinforced their hand.

Tinted glassware seemed popular in launches at Pulpo, Tom Dixon and Ichendorf, while new ceramic offerings seemed to favour mid-century colours and forms – as seen at Rig-Tig, Namhee Kim, Zens and Nicola Tassie, who launched her ceramic lamps at Margaret Howell in town.

The cooking section was on fire, with multiple launches from Merci, who teamed up with Serax to produce tabletop ceramics ideal for bringing a touch of refinement to desk lunches; with Paola Navone on a collection designed for cooking pasta; and with Emile Henry on a set of stoneware cooking pots. While many companies were prosaically exercised in their quests for the perfect take-out lunch and drink containers (see Black+Blum, Eva Solo and Acera), others focused on gilding their table offerings. Almost literally in the case of Alessi, who produced a collection of their iconic bowls, dishes and trays in a special punched brass finish, using an ancient goldsmithing technique called Etruscan granulation. The effect is to transform pieces we know well, giving them deserved new life.

The standout offering at the fair was that of Giobagnara and sister brand Rabitti 1969, which, with Stéphane Parmentier newly at the creative helm, exhibited a whole new collection of leather furniture and accessories, from consoles to poufs, trays of all sizes and a memory card game.

There was plenty to see around town. At Now! Le Off it was an exhibition by Atelier Synapse – a newly merged group of craftsmen, comprising members of design studios Ateliers Seewhy and 13douze – that caught our eye. Sponsored by Laverdure, the collection used epoxy resin as a key material. More fresh talent from around the world was on show at Galerie VIA. Stand-outs included an innovative dimming wall light, dubbed ‘Binomios’, by Mexican design group Comité de Proyectos; and an essential oil distillery by Tiffany Lei.

Staple design/art galleries like Tools Galerie, Gallery Bensimon, Pouenat and Carpenters Workshop were all ready with arresting new collections, with charred wooden pieces at Bensimon courtesy of Roberto Sironi; spraying and stencilling by Katia Jacquet at Tools; and original sculptural pieces by Sybille de Margerie at Pouenat, and ‘Furnification’ by Atelier Van Lieshout at Carpenters.

INFORMATION
For more information, visit the Maison et Objet website

With a mastery of interiors, architecture and products, Parisian designer Stéphane Parmentier was already an dynamic collaborator with Italian leather company Giobagnara when he was tapped to become its creative director in January. Parmentier's new role extended to branding, marketing and packaging in addition to design, also encompassing Rabitti, the pioneering saddle-leather accessories brand Giobagnara acquired in 2015.

Nine months on, the prolific designer has just launched his first collections for both at Maison et Objet in Paris, introducing an array of nearly 70 objects, accessories, and furnishings in all. ‘It was a big new challenge for this small Genova-based company,’ says Parmentier, whose interpretation of the team’s legendary leather know-how has ushered in a new era of graphic experimentation.

The new ‘Atari’ collection for Rabitti — made from hefty saddle-leather tiles interspersed with intricate, 2mm-wide incisions — comprises mirrors, tables, nightstands, stools and a table lamp, the base of the latter wrapped in exquisite marquetry. It’s a homage to the grid as much as a paean to craftsmanship, and Parmentier cites everything from Tron to Josef Albers and vintage IBM punch cards in his arsenal of references. ‘I think this is the basis of my work — always trying to make contrasts,’ he says. ‘Pairing technology with craft, or mixing masculine with feminine… for me, when you have elements that don’t fully go together, it gives it a special flavour.’

Parmentier’s array of designs for Giobagnara is more extensive, ranging from keychains and trays to desk consoles and dressers. Imbued with Italian heritage influences, the designs run the gamut between classical architecture ornaments found in Milanese palazzos, to dazzling camouflage patterns and the irreverence of more contemporary design icons like Enzo Mari and Ettore Sottsass. Most impressive are the ‘Scala’ furniture pieces, made from stacked, rounded and circular forms entirely wrapped in suede and nappa; ‘like liquid leather’, Parmentier marvels. There's nary a wrinkle or imperfection in sight.

Abstract glyphs, patterns and playful forms are rendered in flawless suede and shearling inlays in the ‘Dazzle’, ‘Flow’ and ‘Memory’ gift and accessory lines. For a company known for all-leather-everything, Parmentier also extended the material palette to travertine — a naturally porous and imperfect stone — and paired it with suede for the 'Palazzo' trays, to cleverly underscore contrasts, colours and textures.

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Giobagnara website

Since they opened their Singapore-based studio WOHA in 1994, Wong Mun Summ and Richard Hassell (the practice is named from the first two letters of their surnames) have been lauded as much for the intriguing furniture and accessories they design for the interiors of their projects as for the projects themselves. So, it’s something of a surprise that it’s taken this long for a full-fledged commercial collection to be realised. 

Christened WOHAbeing, the newly minted design brand will make its international debut at September’s Maison et Objet in Paris with not one, but six separate homeware collections of furniture, rugs, lights, bathware and tableware. In addition to a self-produced range, the remaining collections feature a collaboration with a blue-chip designer – apaiser, Industry+, Luzerne, The Rug Maker and WonderGlass – and are based on designs harvested from diverse projects including Bali’s Alila Villas Uluwatu, and Singapore’s PARKROYAL on Pickering.

‘It is a nice change for us to make objects with enthusiastic partners,’ says Hassell, ‘and be able to give our objects their own independent existence, in their own time.’

‘Crab’ side table with ‘Net’ lamp by WOHAbeing, from the self-manufactured ‘Bintan’ collection

A highlight of the WOHA pavilion – itself an eye-catching cocoon curlicued with the fractal geometry of a leafy stem – will be the ‘Oli’, a chandelier created with WonderGlass that’s in the shape of a stupa created of a cloud of Venetian bead-shaped glass pieces.

WOHAbeing serves two purposes. One, says Hassell, is to ‘satisfy the demands of people who see our pieces in the projects and love them. We went through our designs and selected the ones that would work well in a variety of settings, and ones we are just very fond of’.

The second is more cerebral: to follow design ideas through to a satisfactory conclusion. Hassell says that often, ‘in our development projects, pieces are not made, or don’t proceed for one reason or another, or we realise that they could be developed to a new level if we had more time or a more innovative maker’.

All of which means there are more designs in the pipeline. ‘Now that we’ve started on this journey, we’re very excited to see where it will take us,’ muses Hassell.

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the WOHAbeing website

ADDRESS

Parc des expositions
Hall 7, Stand D100/E99
ZAC Paris Nord
93420 Villepinte
France

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The Sebastian Conran x Gifu collection proves that a marriage of differences often breeds beauty. Since the 1980s, the London-based Conran has produced sleek, modern designs celebrated for their mechanical innovation. The work of Gifu’s craftsmen, on the other hand, is steeped in tradition; for more than a millennium, artisans from the Japanese city have handcrafted designs reflecting traditional values and timeless aesthetics. This year’s Maison et Objet show saw the debut from this unlikely collaboration, and the display proved to be as enthralling as it was surprising.

The project began two years ago, when Sebastian Conran's studio joined ten specialist artisans based in Gifu to create more than 50 new household items. The end result is a collection that includes lighting, ceramics, stationery and kitchen tools made from classic Japanese materials like cypress wood, porcelain and handmade paper. Items like the Kai cutlery use ancient swordsmithing techniques to design stainless-steel scissor blades and cheese graters that would look sharp in any modern kitchen. Similarly, Kaneko Kohyo ceramics evoke the delicate look of paper lanterns while maintaining their function as durable pitchers and nut bowls.

Scissors and cheese graters

Each item in the Gifu collection evidences a striking mix of old and new, East and West, orthodox and unconventional. The traditional methods of Gifu’s craftsmen, combined with Conran’s contemporary edge, have created a remarkable new collection that is sure to please with its timeless look, and satisfy with its everyday utility.

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Sebastian Conran website

If Cologne kicks off the design year showing the shape of furniture to come, Maison et Objet follows quickly on its heels with a taste of the tabletop to come. Of course there’s furniture too, but it’s typically the multi-platform brands that dominate in Paris, guiding us to the more general household and lifestyle trends. Brands and buyers come from across Europe and the wider world. Lately it’s the Scandinavians and the Japanese who seem to make the most of the show.

One material often jumps out as particularly popular – and this season it seems that many of our esteemed designers have been getting busy with glass. Granted, there are many glass specialists who regularly show and the usual suspects were there, but there were new turns by Tomas Kral and Joe Doucet at Nude; Michael Anastassiades, David/Nicolas and Sebastian Herkner at Verreum; and Noé Duchaufour-Lawrance at St Louis.

Now that brass, marble and wood (alone and combined) have become popular shorthand for quality across the mainstream as well as luxury markets, designers are looking for new substances and surface decorations with which to break up the material monotony. A couple of years ago terrazzo prevailed, and last year splattering seemed to take hold. This year it’s confetti that’s fallen on walls and flooring, tables and tops. Fine examples were on show at CC-Tapis and Ferm Living, where wallpapers and fabrics got the treatment.

In addition, oil-spill iridescence and antique mirroring were inspiring surfaces at Llot Llov, Ferm Living and Pulpo. Young designers in the Rising Talents section showed unique treatments of resin – UK-based Zuza Mengham exhibited a particularly fine vase in her signature colourful resin composite and Marcin Rusak showcased his flower and resin compositions.

Pierre Charpin was the fair’s Designer of the Year, and an exhibition of his work set the tone for some of other French designs on show; the likes of Petite Friture and Pool at Gallery Bensimon proved Memphis Mach II to be alive and well.

Among the newcomers taking the stage here was Maison Dada, a Shanghai-based brand with a whimsical selection of lighting and furnishings designed by French nationals Thomas Dariel and Delphine Moreau. Evolution, created by Vincent Le Guern (brother of Valérie, who heads up the family firm Mauviel) and designed by Alain Gilles, featured tabletop and kitchen pieces in mixed materials that complement Mauviel’s essential kitchenware. And Sebastian Conran introduced a design collaboration with the traditional craftsmen of Japan’s Gifu region.

Watch the Bouroullec brothers’ hand-drawing process

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Maison et Objet website

Dada transformed nonsense into an art. Sticking a urinal in a museum, making poetry out of grunts, banging a kettledrum and calling the sound a symphony; these were the kinds of absurdist gestures that defined the movement. Life, Dada said, was just one big joke, so why not have fun with it?

Well, Maison Dada is certainly having fun, and making it look good too. The Shanghai-based brand is the brainchild of Thomas Dariel and Delphine Moreau, two French natives who wanted 'to inject a dose of Dadaism into everyday life'. Established in 2015, Maison Dada has just released a line of furniture, lighting, rugs and accessories for the first time in Europe, presented at Maison et Objet. The pieces they have debuted are more living room appropriate than Duchamp’s Fountain, but certainly no less compelling.

Maison Dada’s collection uses simple geometric shapes to create bold, whimsical designs. Most of the furniture is made from ash wood and upholstered in leather, while the rugs are a combination of wool and silk, and accessories are metal. Decked out in fluorescent and pastel colour palettes, the finished pieces sit like costume jewellery within an interior.

This buoyant aesthetic is, however, paired with a serious message. 'Maison Dada’s first collection is a reflection of [freedom]. Of an unrestrained imagination that brings life into objects,' says Dariel. 'I don’t want un-animated furniture. I like them to have a soul, to tell a story.'

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Maison Dada website

Maison et Objet had a challenge on its hands this weekend. It kicked off on ‘La rentrée’, France’s big ‘back to school’ day, and so with many people dragging their still sandy legs back to work, under blue skies and in 30 degree heat, there needed to be something really good in the Parc d’Exposition's shady halls.

While more concise in its offerings than the January show, the September salon did nevertheless provide a digestible smorgasbord of new product, with exhibitors coming from near and far – Korea, Taiwan and Japan made a good showing; Bosnia (wood-carving specialists Zanat teamed up with Ilse Crawford), Turkey (Mèzë innovated with a cooking pot featuring a magnetic knob) and Poland (new company TRE continues to grow) got a look in; while the local French market vied for dominance with Danish designers, who as usual had descended en masse.

The off-schedule roster continues to grow (affording fair-goers a bit of Parisian sunshine) with satellite exhibitions in stores, galleries and museums around town, and a large gathering of young designers and design schools were invited to show behind the very green awnings of the Cité de la Mode.

New notables from Maison’s home turf included Charlotte Juillard – who established her studio in 2014, and for this show created a bed table and mirror with all the panache of a modern day Perriand – while young architects Pierre Mouton and Baptiste Chamourat, collectively dubbed Made With, have dipped their toes in the design arena with a collection of steel furniture, including a desk, chair and shelves. They seem to have tapped into a renewed interest in steel as a feature (rather than a component) of furniture, alongside Michaël Verheyden, who launched new steel and leather chairs.

Also of note from more established local names was José Lévy’s collaboration with Japanese manufacturer Daiken, a beautiful collection of benches and tables called 'Moving Tatami'. Jean-Baptiste Fastrez played with texture and colour to dramatic effect at Tai Ping Carpets, while Olivier Gagnère showed a large collection of vibrant ceramics at Galerie Maeght.

Joining Danish staples Menu, Normann Copenhagen, By Lassen, Nomess and Eva Solo were a host of relative newcomers to the Paris scene. These included Moebe, who played with wood and elastic to produce practical small-scale designs; Handvärk, led by former-TV-presenter-turned-designer Emil Thorup, who presented a sofa, tables and lighting; and Anour, a lighting collection from architect Arash Nourinejad, whose latest strip pendant hovers mysteriously over a table with no wires apparently powering it.

When it comes to recurring themes, coffee making kits abounded, whether slow-drip kits from the Japanese to pots and makers from the Italians and the Danes. Glassware was having a bumpy moment – ridged finishes were on show at Ferm Living, Klaar Prims and Eva Solo. And pink was the colour that kept on interrupting otherwise earthy and monochrome tones – at Nomess, Hartô and Tai Ping, most notably.

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Maison et Object website

The refined corners of food and design merge once again, this time courtesy of students from the coveted ECAL school. For the occasion of Maison et Objet, cookware brand Mauviel 1830 has collaborated with upcoming talents from the Master in Advanced Studies in Design for Luxury & Craftsmanship programme on an inventive new range.

In a project called ‘Cooking The Future’, the team of students, under the design guidance of Tomas Kral, immersed themselves in the 800-year history of copper-ware that Mauviel espouses. For this, they travelled to Normandy's Villedieu-les-Poêles (also known as ‘the city of copper’) for a lesson in luxury cookware.

To ensure the students got the full experience, they also worked alongside French chef Yannick Alléno so their pieces are functional as well as experimental. The assortment is imbued with Mauviel's trademark elegance and quality, with some clever kitchen solutions in-between – like two level pans, meat curing machines and a scallop cooker.

Not everything was made in copper though. Martin Bolo’s ‘Dame de Nage’ is a nifty device realised in silicone, with a pocket-sized pivot that fixes onto a pan in order to hold the spoon above when not stirring. Pauline Masson’s imaginative sleek white asparagus set is equally useful. In addition to cooking the vegetable to perfection, tip to stalk, the set also includes tongs that ensure the shape isn't altered when served.

The pioneering use of copper in Takahiro Yamamoto’s Japanese-inspired geometric tiffin-style box is impressive, with its warm contrast of wood and burnished metal; while there is a certain eloquence in Jenna Kaes’s oval ladle, that can act like a colander, separating solids and liquids.

Imagined only as prototypes for the moment, the collaboration continues to celebrate ECAL’s breadth of experimentation. ‘Creativity knows no boundaries’ says ECAL’s director Alexis Georgacopoulos, ‘and certainly not those of kitchens!’

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the ECAL website

In the wide spectrum of innovative materials available to designers, it's the challenging ones that create the most intrigue. For a new cross-cultural collaboration, French designer José Lévy has taken traditional rice straw tatami and created a new selection of furniture for Japanese manufacturers Daiken.

Launched at Maison et Objet, the sensual collection is titled ‘Moving Tatamis’ and embraces the material’s heritage as traditional Japanese flooring. Channelling the washitsu style, the range of seating, side tables and storage merges organic hues and a panelled aesthetic.

Being the first ever furniture collection to be made out of the material meant some tweaking. The structures were woven from traditional Japanese washi paper instead of straw to solidify and add resistance to the material, while retaining the desirable lightweight quality.

Levy’s strong connection to Japan and its materials was fostered from a young age. ‘It was my first experience of anything exotic of some other place, of the "unusual yet beautiful",' he says. ‘All these objects fascinated me. They were very important in my relationship with anything foreign, beautiful, dreams and distinction.’ Not only do the soft curls that mark the edges of the table and bench reflect an Asian design sensibility, the additional materials are also reminiscent of the region. Precious woods, lacquer and light woods merge with tatami to create simple, warm furniture; contemporary minimalist silhouettes standing on slim short legs.

Following Maison et Objet, the ‘Moving Tatamis’ will be available to purchase from Paris' Joyce Gallery.

INFORMATION

For more information, visit Daiken’s ’Moving Tatami’ website

‘These design pieces are very important to me and my team,’ stated the late Zaha Hadid about her product designs, during a retrospective exhibition at the Guggenheim, New York. ‘They inspire our creativity by providing an opportunity to express our ideas through different scales and through different media; an essential part of our on-going design investigation.’ This synergy is seen in the latest design collection from Hadid's studio, launching at Maison et Objet today.

Consisting of tableware, candles and modular seating, the range is imbued with the British architect’s fluidity and refinement. The London-based studio has worked with a diverse mix of materials for this collection; glass melds with fine bone china and steel with PVD to conjure dynamic silhouettes through  rigorous constructive techniques.

Arriving in deep and dark hues, the collection embarks on a geometric journey, starting with architectural vases and candleholders. Produced in fine bone china, the contours of the vases derive from Hadid’s research in tower forms, standing strong against the fine lines sweeping across the dinner sets. Appearing as a 3D concave shape, the monochrome definition in the tableware is vividly intricate.

From there, the collection continues to celebrate Hadid's powerful harnessing of material and shape – from the fun and playful puzzle Polyethylene modular seating and colourful ‘Rim’ vessels, to the delicacy of the stainless steel serenity bowls that flow like water.

On view at Maison et Objet all week, the collection will be exclusively available from Selfridges thereafter.

The London-based studio has worked with a diverse mix of materials for this collection; glass melds with fine bone china and steel with PVD to conjure dynamic silhouettes through rigorous constructive techniques. Pictured: tea light holders from the 'Braid' series

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Zaha Hadid website

Staging a design fair in Miami that overlaps with NYCxDesign might sound risky to some, but to the organisers of Maison & Objet Americas, it was the right choice. ‘The city is just incredible,’ says Maison & Objet managing director Philippe Brocart. ‘You’ve got amazing architects, amazing interior designers working on different projects, you’ve got smart developers such as Craig [Robbins], or the Related Group, Alan Faena – all the ingredients are here to develop a platform for North and South America where all interior designers, all the architects, all the high-end retailers have the opportunity to meet our fantastic creative brands.’

Three-hunded exhibitors from across the globe set up shop at the Miami Beach Convention Center this week, and the products ranged from Martone Cycling’s vivid bicycles, to Monte Carlo-based perfumer Alex Simone’s line of home fragrances, to The Rug Company’s Vivienne Westwood-designed carpets.

Highlights included Kinsa’s bulbous vases, handcrafted in Peru, that stood on three legs with three round openings; and the Bosa 'Infinity Clock' by Nika Zupanc, a whimsical tabletop timepiece mounted on rockers. At Clima’s outdoor furniture stand, Vondom showed off the glorious clamshell-like 'Ulm Daybed' by Rámon Esteve; while, elsewhere, Blackbody designed a stunning illuminated booth of hanging lights.

Loloey presented its Daniel Libeskind Collection, a series of rugs emblazoned with bold, chaotic abstract prints; Ritz Marwitz had Bauhaus-era ceramicist Hedwig Bollhagen’s striped vessels on display; Lumifer showed its minimal wood and steel 'Saturn' table; and Canadian artist Pascale Girardin hung a set of striking lights sculpted of unbreakable, thermoformed polycarbonate titled 'Ondulations'. Maison Montaigne lined up three of Dominique Roitel’s 'Misericorde' chairs, which – made of lacquered beech wood – were inspired by the small stools in Middle-Age churches that priests would use to rest on. In addition, Laboratorio Mattoni unveiled its Luca Mattoni-designed shiny outdoor kitchen.

L’Appartement, a new concept store located in Miami’s Wynwood district and modeled after a French apartment, showed its wares, many of which are made by French brands like La Chance, Ibride and Petite Friture, and exclusively available from the retailer in the US.

Some of the best designs at Maison & Objet Americas came from its Rising American Talents lineup. Six emerging designers – Los Angeles-based Ben Medansky, Chile’s Great Things to People, Mexico’s Ad Hoc, Panama’s Javier Gomez, New York-based Samuel Amoia and Brazil’s Guilherme Wentz – displayed their creations. Santiago-based Great Things to People featured a new series of ceramics made by Cappellini, a special project using Miami colours, and a marble and bronze stool made for Friedman Benda. Meanwhile, Wentz exhibited three of his minimal 'Um' lamps, which consist of a long, narrow moveable bar attached to a cylinder with Lumina LED lighting.

In honour of being named as the fair’s 2016 Designer of the Year, Rafael de Cárdenas created a bold installation entitled ‘Neon Jungle’ decorated with tropical foliage as a reprieve, in which visitors could enjoy popsicles from PopLab in the Design District.

INFORMATION

Maison et Objet Americas is on view until 13 May. For more information, visit Maison et Objet's website

ADDRESS

Miami Beach Convention Center
1901 Convention Center Drive
Miami Beach, Florida

Following the announcement of André Fu as Maison et Objet Asia’s Designer of the Year, the institution's next accolade embraces less established stars of the design world. Scouring the Asia-Pacific region for innovation, individualism and panache, this year’s winners of the Rising Asian Talents award comprises an assortment of skills spanning embroidery art, fashion-inspired lighting and unusual sculpture.

‘Their presentation in Maison et Objet Asia 2016 will reflect the incredible richness and diversity of the regional design scene,' says Regina Chan, director of Asia Pacific at M&O. This year’s six winners arrive from Australia, Taiwan, Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand and Japan, all chosen by the Maison team, with the help of a panel of industry curators, designers and journalists.

In a fusion of styles, Australian winner Lab De Stu merges together sculpture and craft with minimalist flair. The Melbourne-based studio was founded by designers Adam Lynch, Dale Hardiman and Andre Hnatojko. Meanwhile, the Taiwanese winner – cross-cultural brand Kimu – combines Scandinavian simplicity with Eastern dexterity. Their innovative framed 'The New Old' light is a statement piece that changes a space with its black wire silhouette.

Of the more embellished, experimental winners, Filipino materialist Stanley Ruiz – now based in New York – realises his patterned works in unusual materials, from concrete and wood speakers to lamps and baskets made of buri (palm reed), leather and metal.

Other winners include Lekker Architects from Singapore (who previously conceived the wonderfully wild Hermès Secret Garden); Ease, a Thai embroidery studio based in Bangkok that produces artful, intricate weaving and 3D acoustic embroidery in geometric and floral prints; and Tokyo-based Chihiro Tanaka who uses his fashion background to create eloquent lighting ranges.

INFORMATION

For more information, visit Maison et Objet’s website

Architect André Fu is having a moment. A big moment too, as far occasions go. Having shot to fame with a number of high profile commissions (Hong Kong’s Upper House hotel, London’s Gong Bar at The Shard and an intriguing installation for fashion brand COS among them) and having featured in Wallpaper's own Power List late last year, he also launched his own lifestyle line (André Fu Living), published a book with Assouline and launched a bestselling, bespoke hand-tufted rug collection with Tai Ping Carpets. 

The achievements don’t end there, either. Fu has been named Designer of the Year for this year’s edition of Maison & Objet Asia (launching this week and running 8–11 March) and is soon to unveil a rather revolutionary lighting collection with renowned Czech glass manufacturer Lasvit come April.

Before he lights up Salone del Mobile though, his attention will be firmly set on Singapore, where his latest bathroom accessory line with young American brand Cooper & Graham is due to be unveiled. 'Skyliner', as the artisal bath collection is called, is said to be 'heavily rooted in its balance of proportions and more importantly, a understated purist quality'. Urban landscapes and contemporary buildings inspire the modern, interlocking systems, which seem more like sculptures than bathroom accoutrements at times. Particular attention has been given to refining the edging and detailing of the fixtures, 'with a view to illustrate the underlying pursuit of a collection that is bold visually, yet refined in experience', explains Fu. 

That distinct language – fusing contemporary minimalism with classic elegance – is Fu's signature; a delicate balance that, although inspired by and best suited to the codes of luxury and subtleties of Southeast Asian sensibilities, has international appeal. 

To whet our appetities for Milan – more on that to come in the May 2016 issue of Wallpaper* (W*206) – Fu and Lasvit are unveiling a small taster of the immaculately dressed architect's visit to their workshops. It seems the architect turned interior specialist turned designer has no intention of slowing down. 

The May 2016 issue of Wallpaper* arrives on newsstands 14 April 

To whet our appetite for April’s big reveal, Czech glass manufacturer Lasvit has released this teaser, revealing the process behind the architect’s revolutionary lighting collection, due to be unveiled at Salone del Mobile

Pouenat’s eloquent craft has existed since 1880. Starting out as an artisanal iron workshop established in central France, the firm has since been updating their style with new metals that have joined the scene over the years. Made in steel, brass, aluminium, copper and bronze, its alloy collections range from furniture to their more intriguingly abstract lighting.

For their latest Maison et Objet showing, the Moulins-based brand launched a new graphic range by Parisian architect Isabelle Stanislas. An array of linear shapes and serrated edges, the collection titled ‘Landscapes’ creates artful sculptures out of Pouenat’s malleable forms.

Described by Stanislas as a ‘network of lines and forms that build the unlimited space of an imaginary world,’ the pieces expel an organically sculptural side to contemporary furniture. Experimental forms take shape in the ‘Let It Happens’ bench that fuses carefully carved leather, bronze and brass. Intricate details are key in this warm piece; the stitching on the burnt orange (and also vegetarian) leather seamlessly meets the brushed bronze.

It is the perforated alloy pieces that are the main event though. A braille style pattern is created through its punctures in the ‘Part of Partition’ pedestal table and coffee table. Part industrial, part sleek, a perfect synergy is created from contrasting gunmetal steel that frames the punctured sheets.

Viewed by Stanislas as indoor-outdoor architectural works, the conceptual range makes the case for metal as a fine material.

INFORMATION 

For more information on 'Landscapes,' visit the Pouenat website

Lensvelt partnered with Silvera last week to bring an exhibition of Maarten van Severen's furniture to Paris. Pictured (from left): 'MVS CN° II' chair; 'MVS T88W' table; and 'MVS LT92' low table

The Flemish designer Maarten van Severen died of cancer at the age of 48 in 2005, leaving behind a small but perfectly formed oeuvre that is arguably more accomplished than many designers hope to achieve over a lifetime. And so, to Paris, where Dutch furniture manufacturer Lensvelt presented van Severen’s pieces during Maison et Objet last week at an exhibition hosted in Silvera’s showroom.

Here, exhibition curator Brigitte Fitoussi used Belgian filmmaker Blaisse Moon’s film, Addicted to Every Possibility, as a springboard for the recent show. The documentary, first released in 2014 during Salone del Mobile, traces the tumultuous path of the prolific designer through the lives of his four sons (including Hannes van Severen, one half of Power-listed duo Muller Van Severen).

Moon captured a family sustained by the same artistic sensitivity as their father, all the while mirroring his flamboyant personality. ‘[In the film] we re-discover a genius craftsman, passionate artist, and builder-at-heart at different periods of his life, and the rhythm of his experimenting,’ says Fitoussi.

The exhibition, too, marks the deeply personal relationship between the Belgian designer and Lensvelt president, Hans Lensvelt. He was both a friend and patron of van Severen who – notes Fitoussi – often knocked back shots with the designer at the corner of his workshop table, and shared his ‘radical vision [and] uncompromising aesthetic’.

Visitors to the show would have seen products from Lensvelt’s ‘First Series’, including van Severen’s curvaceous, pearl-blasted aluminium‘LC95’ chair and compact ‘S88’ low armchair. It’s a stark reminder of the designer’s incredible talent, and in a way, quite poignantly, of his unrealised potential and what could have been.

Products on show were plucked from Lensvelt's 'First Series' collection of van Severen furniture, originally launched in 2013

Belgian filmmaker Blaisse Moon’s film, Addicted to Every Possibility (poster pictured), was the inspiration for the recent show. The documentary traces the tumultuous path of the prolific designer through the lives of his four sons

INFORMATION

‘Maarten van Severen: Addicted to Every Possibility’ ran from 21 until 27 January. For more information, visit the Silvera website

ADDRESS

Silvera Kleber
58 avenue Kléber
75116 Paris

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We’re an optimistic, forward-thinking bunch here at Wallpaper, so we don’t like to sound negative – but as we strode through the eight vast and alternately over-and under-heated halls of Maison et Objet last weekend, all too many brands we asked ‘What’s new this season?’ looked slightly embarrassed, shifted from foot to foot and finally responded with an apologetic, ‘Er, not very much, actually.’

Maybe we’ve been to too many fairs – or maybe we’re getting a little jaded – but much of this January’s M&O felt like rather an interim affair. Some nice designs, undoubtedly, but – for Wallpaper* at least – nothing that stopped us dead in our tracks. What we did see, though, were some beautiful things from single makers and smaller outfits, as well as some enticing new editions (and re-editions) from some of the bigger brands.

With a show so vast and so varied it’s always hard to discern trends, but it was intriguing to see some of our own hunches borne out. We seem to have reached Peak Brass, for example – after a couple of years of having brass everywhere, it was far less in evidence this time; copper, meanwhile, was almost nowhere to be seen. As for marble, the other big material story of the last few years, white seems to be giving way to various other colours (clearly it’s going to be around for some time yet).

Among the bigger brands, Normann Copenhagen showed its classic ‘Form’ armchairs, covered for the first time with a range of attractive fabrics in various denim shades. There were bright new colourways, too, for the ‘Block’ trolley and ‘Pocket’ wall organisers, as well as a new modular sofa designed by Hans Hornemann. Called ‘Rope’, it comes in 12 different modules and is padded not with foam but with the kind of pocket springs normally found in beds for extra comfort.

Ligne Roset maintained the modular mood with the multicoloured ‘Slice’ armchair, designed by Pierre Charpin in the 1980s but not produced until now, and also showed new versions of Philippe Nigro’s popular ‘Cosse’ sofa.

Over at Gubi, we were dazzled by a re-edition of Louis Weisdorf’s 1972 ‘Multi-Lite’ pendant lamp in seven different materials and colourways. Their two opposing quarter-spherical shades can be rotated individually, offering multiple combinations where the light can be directed upwards, downwards or in various other combinations.

Also lighting the way forward were Hisle’s ‘La Luxciole’ French-made, cordless aluminium table lamps, which despite having powerful LED bulbs cast a warm, attractive light. Kalmar, meanwhile, showed its classic ‘Billy T’ lamp ‘re-edited’ (in its words) by Ilse Crawford. We also liked the oval wall lamp from CTO Lighting, by Turkish design studio Autobahn; while Moser’s new hand-cut glass crystal ‘Carrara 3336’ lamp, designed by Jabůrek Lukáš, came in both pendant and table versions.

Moser also showed some striking glass trays, their edges supported by a pyramid, a cube, a tube and a sphere, all in solid coloured glass. Other good glassware was to be seen in the 'Talents à la Carte' exhibition, which focused on six young Scandinavian designers, including Katriina Nuutinen, whose ‘Lyyli’ containers combine two very Finnish materials: mouth-blown clear and coloured glass with birchwood lids and glass handles. Czech designer Anna Torfs' sculptural vases demonstrated that the traditional Bohemian glass traditions are alive and well.

It was good to see the Misoka•ISM toothbrush, a Design Awards 2016 winner, showing at Maison et Objet, with a spectacular ‘waterfall’ display made up of hundreds of brushes, which apparently took 10 people 10 days to make.

As always, there were appealing finds from smaller brands and up-and-coming designers. Shibui’s onion-shaped wooden mortars and pestles made a welcome addition to their thoughtfully designed accessories for the kitchen, while French studio Coming B’s clever side tables with integral swivelling trays suggested that they’re definitely ones to watch. Young Copenhagen-based Central St Martins graduate Troels Flensted makes alluring tables and vessels whose swirling patterns are created by mixing powdered pigments into a composite material.

Though as always there was more at Maison than anyone could hope to see, the galleries and studios in Paris itself had some particularly fine shows this January. Among the stalwarts, Carpenters Workshop Gallery offered lovely new colourways in Wonmin Park’s ‘Haze’ collection, as well as a group of very characterful lamps-cum-sculptures by Mathieu Lehanneur. Equally intriguing were Marco Guazzini’s stained-marble centrepieces at Galerie S Bensimon – which just goes to show that even a ubiquitous material can be reinvented in the hands of a thoughtful designer.

INFORMATION

Maison et Objet ran from 22–26 January 2016. For more information, visit Maison et Objet's website

What better way to celebrate a decade of design than by branching into new (furniture) territory? To commemorate their landmark anniversary, Danish brand Ferm LIVING has launched three new designs – including their first ever chair, the 'Herman'; a three-seater version of their 'Turn' sofa; and their first large scale unit, the 'Punctual Shelving System' – at Maison et Objet this week.

'We don't think of ourselves as only a Nordic brand,' explains Ferm LIVING founder Trine Andersen, 'but we definitely come from the legacy of Danish midcentury modern and well-crafted design.' That influence is clearly seen in the streamlined, light and functional nature of all their designs, most notably in the 'Herman' (created in collaboration with Herman Studio). 

Designed by Jonas and Helle Herman, the husband and wife design team behind the eponymous studio, the piece is minimalism at its finest; a monochrome, stackable structure of polished wood and metal with a natural armrest and enclosed back.

'We knew we wanted it to be stackable from the start,' says Helle, explaining how that decision 'defines the whole construction. It was also important that the chair had some kind of directional element to it.' 

The dynamic spirit of the 'Herman' chair is even more vivid with the 'Turn' series, which sees the new three-seater join Ferm LIVING's sofa and daybed range. A firm favourite of team Wallpaper* with its horizontal lines, soft rounded shapes and elevating metal legs, the reversible top cushion – and double stitching detailing – have the ability to instantly transform the look and feel of the sofas themselves (not to mention the rooms they inhabit).  

Completing the trio of celebratory designs is the 'Punctual Shelving System', a modular unit and modern storage solution. Designed to be easily assembled and freely expanded, the shelves are perforated, adding an industrial texture to the otherwise soft and airy units of grey, dusty or dark blue metal. 

An anniversary such as this wouldn't be complete without a dramatic backdrop, though. Wallpaper, specifically. In tribute to its roots – Ferm LIVING started with 10 inaugural wallpaper designs – there are also a number of graphic prints and textiles (for cushions), also launched at Maison et Objet. True to form, the special edition design is titled 'Confetti', and as you'd expect, it brings plenty of colour and sparkle to any room.  

INFORMATION

For more information, visit Ferm LIVING’s website

Photography courtesy Ferm LIVING

Paris' grand Maison et Objet is never short of bright lights – or illuminaries, for that matter – and 2016 will be no exception. Proof in point: Cassia, the latest design and bespoke installation created by Petra Krausová for Czech lighting company Lasvit.

Unveiled at the international furniture fair, the dynamically-lit sculpture draws on two seemingly opposing sources of inspiration: the star-studded sky and universe beyond; and, on the other end of the scale, the delicacy of a flower swaying in the breeze. 

Such conflicting inspirations might seem at odds to some, but Krausová is known for marrying tradition with technology in a seemingly effortless and organic way.  

'I conceived this concept as a field of flowers or stars that expand across the interior,' says the designer. 

Krausová's previous designs for the Czech brand have focused on large scale installations – the kinetic 'Supernova' and florid 'Alice', for instance – so this time she set her sights on creating something that didn't necessarily need a huge amount of space to make an impact. 'Each client can, metaphorically-speaking, pick the flowers they want and as many as they need to fill their space,' she explains.

Each one of Cassia's hand-blown pendant lights is able to stand alone, but for those who crave a statement – as seen at the Lasvit stand over the weekend – multiple pendants can be grouped together or mounted onto walls. (Each glass element has its own light source and simple brushed brass socket or wall mounting.) A soft, flowing light – resembling the movements of flowers in the field, or twinkling stars – brings a final flourish to the flexible sculpture.

Watch the blown glass experts of LASVIT craft Petra Krausová’s ’Cassia’

INFORMATION

Photography courtesy of LASVIT

It became clear at Wallpaper* Handmade last year that Belgian architect Glenn Sestig has a real way with stone. Crafted from Iranian titanium travertine, his ‘Pleasure Dome’ stood out with its uniquely sculptural form – a mastery derived from a pointed precision, paired with a fascination for the beautiful quality of the stone itself.

Sestig has sparked up magic with titanium travertine yet again for this year's Maison et Objet. This time, he's  transformed it into a kitchen model: the ‘Signature Kitchen’, made for Kortrijk-based interiors brand Obumex.

It should come as no surprise that many were bemused by Sestig's new venture; the raw boisterous structure boasts a particularly minimalist appeal. 'Signature Kitchen' exists as a single shapely piece, with its attachments, functions and storage stealthily hidden. The only displayed features appear to be the tap, and the leather, wooden veneer and bronze stool.

Arriving as a kitchen but also described as a ‘big aesthetical bar table’ and ‘room divider’, the design’s strong geometric frame means it alters the space it is placed in. ‘Most contemporary kitchen designs are dominated by horizontal lines,’ explains Sestig. 'We break through this cliché with a vertical volume, a strong architectural statement.’ The two floor-to-ceiling columns divide the space, while simultaneously concealing a hidden cupboard and the back of the sink.

Among the natural flaws, pigments and veins that exist in the titanium travertine are protruding edges and gaps between the material sheets; all small, yet artistic, attributes that are endlessly intriguing.

'This is a kitchen that does not look like a cooking place,' the studio concludes, 'but rather like a contemporary sculpture.’

INFORMATION

For more information on the ’Signature Kitchen’, visit Obumex’s website

Photography: Jean-Pierre Gabriel

Maison & Objet might be first known as a French fair, but its Miami-based American edition, which is next scheduled for 10-13 May 2016, is steadily gaining a traction of its own.

This week, the fair announced the winner of its Designer of the Year accolade: Rafael de Cárdenas. Founder of the New York City design practice Architecture at Large, de Cárdenas is the creative force behind such sumptuous projects as Nike’s private women-only gym 45 Grand, the reinvention of the Noughties’ Manhattan mainstay Asia de Cuba, the seductive London boutique of jeweler Delfina Delattrez and more. His client list reads like a glossary of mega brands, such as Barneys New York, Baccarat and Cartier, while the work ranges from retail and restaurants to residences and installations.

Prior to setting up his design firm in 2006, de Cárdenas cut his teeth as a menswear designer for Calvin Klein and then as a creative director for the special effects production house Imaginary Forces. His graphic yet glamourous aesthetic is bold and refined, demonstrating a deft understanding of materials and a creative use of colour. The results are always polished, but never precious, and beautiful but still possessing depth – a formula that de Cárdenas has no doubt been honing over the last decade or so.

It’s precisely this imaginative use of colour and pattern, coupled with an ability to create environments that provoke emotions that captivated Maison & Objet Americas’ selection committee. An awards ceremony honouring de Cárdenas will be held on 11 May. He joins the Brazilian furniture designer, Zanini de Zanine, who won the fair’s inaugural award in 2015.

From the 3–6 September, French design producer Moustache will present its inaugural edition of 'Favoris': an exhibition, auction and party, marking the birth of a new direction for the brand.

The name 'Favoris' was chosen for its double meaning in French: it means 'favoured', but also, fittingly, the word indicates sideburns – a ‘close relative’ and an apt addition to the Moustache. A step sideways, as the editeur calls it, 'Favoris' is a new venture into unexplored (for them) auction territory and a new experiment in working with designers from all over the world.

In a manifesto introducing the new project, Moustache mentions the changing habits of consumers, and a desire to own objects that are more unique and representative of their tastes and lives, clashing with the attempts of manufacturers to keep up with production. 'We are living this paradox as a publisher,' they say. 'To progress, serial objects must be produced at the best price to achieve the best sales.' They cite the many projects the brand had to abandon because they were not practical, too expensive or just plain risky to produce.

A year ago, founder Stéphane Arriubergé attended an auction at the artist-operated Örnsbergsauktionen in Stockholm, the event inspiring a new concept for his own design work. 'We immediately thought of holding an exhibition in Paris crowned by a sale to promote projects that we cannot always support and produce with Moustache, but which we admire,' he says.

A wishlist of designers and projects was put together, including those the brand hasn't been able to work with due to financial and manufacturing constraints. The result is a collection of 100 pieces by over 50 international designers, from tabletop items to furniture via lighting and conceptual objects. Participants include the Austrian duo Mischer'traxler, Studio Swine, Os & Oos and Inga Sempé, factoring a mix of newcomers and established designers with a diverse range of styles.

For the occasion, Arriubergé has gathered an impressive team, headed by Li Edelkoort (as the mistress of ceremonies) and including Jean-Baptiste Fastrez, in charge of the exhibition design as well as the hammer which will be used to auction off each piece (and will be auctioned off itself as the last item). Parisian auctioneers Doré & Giraud have also leant their expertise for the event, held in the vast halls of Studio Cassiopée in Paris.

'It's an exploratory notebook full of impossibilities which deserve to be shown,' is Arriubergé's definition of this ambitious project. 'Moustache’s ideal cabinet of curiosities.'

ADDRESS

Studio Cassiopé
11, rue des Arquebusiers 
75003 Paris

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If Maison et Objet is anything to go by, this year is the year of the planter. Mirrors too were in plentiful supply and we won't be short of a coat hook or two. Maison et Objet, the French capital's biannual showcase of new furniture, fabrics, kitchenware and all manner of household trimmings, took place over last weekend in the eight cavernous halls of the Parc d'Exposition to the north of Paris.

We honed our focus on the contemporary, on the (modern) craft and on the high-end furnishings, and found it to be exceptionally multinational. It always is to a certain extent, but a few more flags were flying this year. As is often the case the Scandinavians, and in particular the Danes, were dominating. Evermore established brands Muuto, &Tradition, Ferm Living, Normann Copenhagen and Menu are now strong staples, and always oblige with unmissable additions to their effortlessly stylish home décor collections.

But home turf was well-represented too with great new collaborations at Hartô (Tomas Kral), Coedition (Patrick Jouin and Patricia Urquiola), Specimen Editions (Thinkk Studio and Studio 248), LCDA (Matali Crasset), Bernardaud (Marina Abramović) and - one of our favourites this year - the Basque marble brand, Retegui who engaged the talents of the Belgian designer Sylvain Willenz.

Considered collaborations were also in evidence at Brit brands Ercol, who have teamed with Paola Navone for their latest sofa and chair, at CTO Lighting who have paired with Stéphane Parmentier, and at London-based De La Espada who launched new pieces with collaborators Luca Nichetto, Autoban, Neri & Hu and Matthew Hilton.

Other nations making their presence felt were Japan, with a growing number of craftsmen and small companies represented, particularly in the table top arena (as ever Sfera charmed, and the work of Nodate and Hasami Porcelain impressed) - and Mexico. Heritage silverware brand Tane made its first appearance with new work from London-based Bodo Sperlein, while the Talents a la Carte feature (a regular Hall 7 installation of fresh talent) shone the light on young Mexican designers FOAM & Perla Valtierra, Christian Vivanco, Paul Roco, Liliana Ovalle, Cooperativa Panorámica and Studio David Pompa.

The showrooms and galleries in the city were slightly quieter on the design front. Tried and trusted destinations triumphed - with fresh new works from young designers such as Brit van Nerven and Sabine Marcelis, Giopato & Coombes at Galerie Bensimon, pieces by Charles Kalpakian at BSL, and a great show from Austrian designer Robert Stadler at the Carpenters Workshop.

Quiet it may have been, but if it leaves time for retail relief in our shopping meccas, Merci and Monoprix, we leave smiling.

Maison et Objet in Paris has always been a major fixture on our design calendar, offering up the means to view a vast quantity of new releases from small and large companies from Europe and beyond, encompassing craft, fabric design, furniture, kitchenware and table top items. Some see it simply as a buyer’s supermarket, but it’s also a great place to gauge the mood and direction design is taking for the year.

And this year more designers than ever appeared to be in town – perhaps owing in part to a particularly spectacular launch that took place on the eve of the show. The deep-pocketed entrepreneur and visionary Cedric Naudon revealed his concept for a neighbourhood in the Marais called La Jeune Rue, where a total of 25 shops will be taken over by the world’s design and architecture elite, who will transform them into the ultimate local cheese shop, speakeasy, tool shop, cinema, tapas bar and art gallery. In their number are Andrea Branzi, Francesco Mendini, the Campana brothers, Jaime Hayon, Oki Sato, Ingo Maurer, Michael Young, A+A Cooren, Jasper Morrison, Patricia Urquiola, Tom Dixon, and the turnout for the launch was a PR’s dream.

Back at the hangars of the Parc d’Exposition, the mood was fresh. Colour infiltrated collections in all manner of nuances and pairings. Even the resolutely monochrome seemed to have caught the bug: utilitarian Belgian company Objekten introduced a rainbow of wall-hung storage; Haymann, whose monolithic pieces are usually distinctly desaturated, debuted alabaster tables in delicate hues of yellow and pink; and Michaël Verheyden - who has made an art of mixing classic black and tan leathers with marble, woods and brass - offered a dusky pink rose suede to his finishes, alongside a chartreuse and sage green suede. Less colour-wary companies such as Muuto, PCM, &tradition and Normann Copenhagen put out pieces in especially powerful hues and made punchy mixes central to their new collections.

There were a number of new names making their debut in the hallowed halls – among them were Coedition, an impressive new brand from France’s design emporium Silvera featuring pieces by Michael Anastassiades, Victoria Wilmotte and Patricia Urquiola; Dadadum, the initiative of a young Swiss graphic designer who has got Alfredo Häberli, Joerg Boner and Nicolas Le Moigne bringing ‘Swissness’ to stone tables, wooden chairs and metal shelving; and Bosc, a new brand of upholstered chairs and sofas born out of a 40-year-old family-run furniture-making business from Les Landes (Bastiat), with the help of local hotshot designers, Jean Louis Iratzoki and Samuel Accoceberry.

Also launching during the fair was Retegui, a new design arm to a long-established marble merchants, now producing shelves, bowls and a table from marble; Norrmade, the new brand from long established Danish designers Claus Jensen and Henrik Holbaek, which showed a well-honed, unmistakably nordic collection of furniture essentials; Rodet, a company producing institutional steel furniture, who underscored what seems to be renewed interest in tubular steel by launching a contemporary domestic collection by Fred Rieffel and V8 Designers; and finally Nude, yet another artful branch of a more industrial company, (Turkey’s Sisecam Group), launched its collection of glassware for the home, including decanters and glasses collection by Ron Arad.

Among the shiny new creations were some striking reissues from Venini’s new 'Mille e una Notte' centrepieces, which use Carlo Scarpa’s murrina technique, to Kalmar’s reedited 'Fliegenbein' lamps, and France’s '510' stackable steel-tube school chair by Gaston Cavaillon made a comeback courtesy of Label Edition.

When fair blindness set in, the galleries and exhibitions of the Marais provided fresh inspiration and air, while Merci’s regular Saturday night shindig offered a much-needed dose of vichyssoise and bubbles.

At this year's edition of Maison & Objet in Paris, French design house Ora-ïto unveiled its new 'Mobility' collection - the brand's first foray into digital accessory design. Indeed, Ito Morabito - founder of the design group - is no stranger to exploring new design disciplines. The brand's broad portfolio of work covers everything from avant-garde architectural projects, like the futuristic Hotel O in Paris, to packaging designs for Guerlain's 2013 summer make-up range and a line of aluminium bottles for Heineken, which received the prestigious 'Oscar for best packaging' in 2002.

The collection, comprised of a variety of digital accessories and equipment, including a Bluetooth speaker, headphones, cables and tablet cases, is described by Ora-ïto as a 'fusion of design and technology'. Its uncluttered aesthetic clearly reflects Morabito's architectural authority and his love of clean lines and sleek forms. All the products are made using fabric from leading textile manufacturer Kvadrat, who have also supplied durable fabrics for projects such as London's 'Gherkin' and Berlin's Reichstag.

The headphones come in block colours and a choice of textured finishes, while the tablet cases feature 3D patterns in muted blue, green and red. All products in the 'Mobility' range have been designed to work with one another, creating an 'ecosystem' of accessories.

September's Maison & Objet in Paris is the big showcase for the Autumn/Winter collections of the international design world. Some of the heavy hitters of the furniture world show up just for the Spring/Summer collections in January, but autumn's Maison & Objet is gaining ground, with many companies endorsing September's edition with the launch of a whole gamut of nouveautés.

The timing lends itself particularly to the unveiling of outdoor furnishings, so companies such as Fermob, Tribu, Emu, Gloster and Manutti, and Vondom had a significant presence. There were standout collections at Gloster, which launched  Bella and Vista collections by Carsten Astheimer; Tribu, which launched the Tosca collection by Monica Armani; and Matière Grise, whose collection by Constance Guisset took us happily back to 1950s Miami.

Menu, the Swedish design brand hitherto focusing on functional tabletop, chose this fair to rebrand, with a new logo, streamlined aesthetic, and many new covetable offerings that included bathroom and outdoor accessories, shelving and mirrors. And Galerie Bensimon, a regular destination in the 3eme for those in search of unique designs from emerging talents, chose it as the occasion to launch its own line, Maison Bensimon, with the MB01 armchair. Newcomers included Belgium's Lina Dura, a colourful collection of metal shelving and storage pieces and France's La Joue, with raw wood pieces large and small by Pierre Casenove

The Scandinavians, and the Danes in particular had a notable presence. A whole new range from Danish Crafts, a sofa, footstool and chair by Anderssen and Voll from Muuto, and from Room Copenhagen, a great melamine kitchen set designed by Olé Jensen.

The objet part of the fair's title is important - this is where to find the best of the world's tabletop designs, and usual suspects Michaël Verheyden, Christofle, Dibben, Normann Copenhagen and Non Sans Raison all augmented our kitchen and dining wishlists.

Outside the vast hangers of the Parc d'Exposition, forays into the galleries of the Marais and St Germain uncovered a beautiful collection by Damien Langlois-Meurinne for Gallerie Pouenat, a brilliant exhibition of glass sculptures by Fabrica at Christian Lacroix, and elsewhere, a lot of setting up. Maison & Objet now precurses Paris Design Week, so only those exhibitors with the foresight to set up in time to capture the early Maison crowd hit our radar on this occasion. But it was plenty to feast upon.

Milanese artist Piero Fornasetti was a jack of many trades: painter, sculptor, interior decorator and engraver - and the rare master of all. These days it is his son Barnaba who faithfully maintains the legacy of the prolific designer, who would have turned 100 years old this year. British wallpaper crafters Cole and Son are marking the occasion by opening the door to Fornasetti's whimsical world once again with a new offering of prints.

Launched at this year's Maison et Objet fair, Fornasetti II includes quirky patterns incorporating saucer-eyed owls, clouds, flying machines, monkeys and classical architectural details - many of which appear for the first time in new colourways. A series of trompe-l'oeils are also amongst the ever-eccentric motifs resurrected from the designer's archives, which can be used both vertically and horizontally.

Cutback culture may be dominating the pages of newspapers, but behind the doors of the exhibition halls of the Parc des Expositions in Paris Nord Villepinte, and the galleries flanking the Seine, fresh new product design from old and new sources was flourishing last weekend at Maison & Objet.

Admittedly, economy and accessibility could be seen to be playing a role in some of the newer offerings. Established designers and design houses appear to be looking to small but perfectly formed product to shore up business.

Tom Dixon previewed his new range Eclectic (due to launch in August), featuring accessories and tabletop pieces in his signature materials of copper, glass and wood, while Belgium's Alain Berteau launched a company, Objekten, that focuses on simple, well-crafted, everyday products.

Denmark's Hay, meanwhile, presented a stand that was pure candy to design-tuned eyes seeking beauty in the quotidien and mundane - a vast collection of brightly coloured stationary, wooden trays and tools for grooming, laundry, cooking and working.

Also new to the Maison scene and chiming with the mood for accessibility was Ghent-based Labt, a design house showcasing furniture designed by Belgian architects and graphic designers and using plywood for the most part, to great effect.

This being France, there was plenty of Gallic talent on show. We viewed the well-established Sentou with fresh eyes, its stand an alluring riot of colourful shelving and tables (by the in-house team) and pieces from a new favourite, the Paris-based daughter of design dynasty the Hansen Family, Gesa Hansen.

Twenty-year-old lighting company Forestier reinvented and relaunched itself with ENO co-founder Jean-Dominique Leze at the creative helm, and dazzled with a range of sculptural lighting from an impressive roll call of designers including Arik Levy, Sebastian Bergne, Ionna Vautrin, and Laurence Brabant.

Brand new maison d'edition Marcel By introduced itself with mirrors, shelving and chairs from founders Stephan Lanez, Samuel Accoceberry, Noé Duchaufour Lawrances and Jakob + MacFarlane. Tolix sustained its recent reinvention with a new desk and shelving system from Sebastian Bergne and free-standing shelves from Normal Studio - as did cabinet company Drugeot Labo, whose wooden shelving units become ever more colourful and inventive.

Maison stalwart Ligne Roset presented an impressive stand brimming with newly produced pieces by the older guard - Pierre Paulin (reissues from his Elysée Palace designs of the 1970s), Jean Nouvel and Pierre Charpin - and brilliant fresh talent in the form of Japanese designer Yota Kakuda and young French collective Numéro 111.

Italian design house Gervasoni chose Maison as its platform to introduce a new offshoot with a focus on the bedroom. The Letti & Co collection launched with five fabric-finished bed designs by Paola Navone. Fellow Italians Alessi, meanwhile, chose Maison as the European launch pad for their meta-collection of trays, (Un)Forbidden City, designed by Chinese architects.

Out in town, no fewer than two galleries - the recently established Carpenters Workshop and the Pierre-Alain Challier - helped Nendo celebrate its tenth anniversary with stunning new collections of work. Tools Galerie put a focus on wood used in unusual ways to build furniture, featuring original work from Elisa Strozyk, David Graas, Peter Marigold and Glass Hill, and Galerie S. Bensimon showcased an inspiring collection of works by young American designer Max Lipsey, Rotterdam-based Lex Pott and David Derksen, and London-based Pia Wüstenberg.

Tripping round the streets of Paris in search of fresh design is never a chore - even the Parc des Expositions has Fauchon and Ladurée pitstops to revive fair-worn legs - but it's all the more valuable when you can return replenished not only with macaroons and éclairs, but with a fund of inspiring new design swimming around in your head, as we did on Monday.

Split Slatted Shelving unit by Peter Marigold at the Knock on Wood exhibition, Toolsgalerie

Miss Maple, by Elisa Strozyk at the Knock on Wood exhibition, Toolsgalerie

Knife Pots by Normann Copenhagen

Geo Thermos jugs at Normann Copenhagen

Stationery by Hay

Trays by Hay

Stationery by Hay

Pieces at Blanc Bijou for Nikki Fron

Pieces at Blanc Bijou for Nikki Fron

Bed by Paola Navone for Lettti & Co

Bed by Paola Navone for Lettti & Co

Chairs by Alki

New pieces at Sfera

New pieces at Sfera

New pieces at Sfera

'Aldo' vases by Doriana and Massimiliano Fuksas for Alessi

Pencil Display by Elise Gabriel for Atelier d'Exercices

Central Bank for Atelier d'Exercices

Chateau Baccarat, new collection of crystal glasses from Baccarat designed to enhance the drinking experience

Stools from the Acciaio Series by Max Lipsey at the Gallery S Bensimon

Stacking Vessels by Pia Wüstenberg at the Gallery S Bensimon

Cheese box by Stephane Bureaux at the 'Cheeeeese!' Exhibition in Hall 3

Cheese platter by Claudio Colucci at the 'Cheeeeese!' Exhibition in Hall 3

Cheese box by Germain Bourre at the 'Cheeeeese!' Exhibition in Hall 3

Nest Centrepiece and bowls by Stéphane Parmentier for Christofle

Ceramics by Christiane Perrochon

Moonlight Mirrors by Richard Hutten at Covo

Shelving by  Drugeot Labo

'Eclectic' Hex Champagne Bucket by Tom Dixon

'Eclectic' Chop (Rectangle, Paddle, Long) and Form Bowl Set, by Tom Dixon

Dolmen stool by Sebastien Cordoleani for ENO

Quake by Antoine Phelouzat for ENO

Lamps by Arik Levy for Forestier

Lamps by Arik Levy for Forestier

Loungers by Ipe Cavalli

The Shiro Kuramata exhibtion at Cappellini

The Shiro Kuramata exhibtion at Cappellini

Cabinets by Jan en Randoald for Labt

Table by JIJ's for Labt

Mortaise tables and stools by Yota Kakuda for Ligne Roset

Dérive 2 by Pierre Paulin for Ligne Roset

Olive Lamps by Numéro 111 for Ligne Roset

Pool Coffee Table by Jakob Macfarlane for Marcel By

Bamby Chair by Noé Duchaufour-Lawrance for Marcel By

Crystal pieces by Moser

Plan Vase by Sebastien Cordoleani for Moustache

Vessels by Ionna Vautrin for Moustache

Bins by Muuto

Static Bubbles exhibition by Nendo at the Carpenters Workshop gallery

Static Bubbles exhibtion by Nendo at the Carpenters Workshop gallery

Object Dependency exhibtion by Nendo at Galerie Pierre-Alain Challier

Object Dependency exhibtion by Nendo at Galerie Pierre-Alain Challier

Object Dependency exhibtion by Nendo at Galerie Pierre-Alain Challier

Office accessories by Objekten

Trays and light by Objekten

Soba Chair by Dunja Weber for PCM

Wall shelves by Kay Stemmer for SCP

Table and bench for SCP

'Jane' tray by Liu Jiakun as part of Alessi's Unforbidden City collection of trays

'Floating Earth' by Ma Yan Song as part of Alessi's Unforbidden City collection of trays

Everything but the manual furniture kit by David Grass at the Knock on Wood exhibition, Toolsgalerie

Desk by Gesa Hansen for Sentou

Utu shelves by O Creation for Sentou

Shelves at Sentou

Glassware by Christian Haas for Theresienthal

Glassware at Theresienthal

Shelves by Tolix

Shelves by Tolix

Centrepieces by Victoria Wilmotte, in the Young Talents exhibition, Hall 7

The Tokyo and Milan-based design group Nendo has had a busy few months. Earlier this year, they were named 'designer of the year' by our illustrious panel of judges for Wallpaper's 2012 Design Awards. Now, in celebration of its tenth anniversary, the company - headed up by Oki Sato - is in the midst of a spate of exhibitions. Following a retrospective in Tokyo, they are currently putting on a duo of shows in Paris during Maison & Objet.

Settling in at Galerie Pierre-Alan Challier until 17 March is 'Object Dependency'. The canny collection of 14 pieces looks to invert the functional purpose of furniture with a series of 'weak furniture' by Nendo, intentionally created to be structurally incomplete. The pieces - the most memorable being a bookshelf that only becomes stable when books are placed on it - are inherently dependent on the addition of objects.

Carpenters Workshop Gallery is host to 'Static Bubbles', a testament to the Nendo approach of reshaping the familiar. A collection of poured and blown molten-glass tables (created in conjunction with glass-blowers) are on display along with a selection of sculptural objects fashioned out of agricultural wire.

As is typical, Nendo's designs are disarmingly simple at first sight, but on closer inspection reveal themselves to be clever and innovative, in construction, concept or both. Canadian-born Sato provides what he epigrammatically calls a small '!' moment. And over the past ten years, there have been plenty of those moments at Nendo.

As if the design community didn't have quite enough jetsetting to do in September already, what with Copenhagen, Helsinki, London, Lisbon and Vienna all staging city-wide mini-Salonis this month, Paris now wants in as well. Piggy backing on the success of biannual professional interior design fair Maison & Objet, the city is staging the first ever Paris Design Week, boasting around 100 citywide events and issuing a call to arms to French creatives in the process. Does the world really need another design capital? Zut alors. Of course it does. We booked the Eurostar toute suite.

Parisians have long excelled at interior design, and Paris Design Week offers a peek inside their toolkit. The key is in the mix. And while that can be slightly odd to see in a trade-show environment such as Maison & Object, where Wallpaper* favourite Michaël Verheyden's booth backed onto a stand specialising in seashell chandeliers, and GUBI was just metres from a giant stuffed giraffe courtesy of a taxidermy company (one of a worrying number exhibiting this year), across the rest of the city it makes more sense.

Juxtaposing slick contemporary pieces with classic arts and crafts, or rustic French bricolage with far Eastern influences, the contrasts - ever surprising and ever chic - are being played out all across town.

A feeling for Japan is palpable everywhere. At the treasure trove that is Astier de Villatte on Rue Saint Honore, visitors during Paris Design Week are treated with a curated collection of products from six Japanese artists, all chosen by Takanao Muramatsu. The lovely Merci meanwhile, is staging an exhibition entitled 'SUGAO - Essential Design in Japan'. More than 200 products on sale represent a new generation of Japanese designers and makers, fusing the craftmanship, traditions and cultures of their homeland with global influences.

The Japan fetish is also evident at the biggest organised event of the week outside of Maison & Objet - a show called 'Now! Design a Vivre' which took place at the big green Cité de la Mode et du Design on Quai d'Austerlitz. Here, 60 French and international designers gathered to display their wares, a platform for the up and coming, student displays and small curated initiatives. One such display was Dessine-moi Le Japon, for which 100 designers produced a drawing or photograph in aid of Japan's disaster victims, but there was also a strong collection of Norwegian design, as well as some interesting new names to watch such as Studio Pauline Deltour and Xiral Segard.

Paris in September is buzzing with energy. Blame the new collections, the weather, or la rentrée, the atmosphere is fresh and Parisians are all tanned and re-togged in the wake of their August vacances. Designers certainly need little encouragement to congregate here at this time of year and while there's still a little way to go, Paris Design Week certainly holds a lot of potential.