From 8 to 12 September Maison&Objet is back, as the event of reference for creativity in Paris. The director Guillaume Prot offers a preview of this iteration.
“One key factor to consider is the renewed loyalty of the brands, which want to return to taking part in trade fairs. For the third post-pandemic edition, Maison&Objet in September will once again attract over 2000 brands. For us it has been very important to help companies to regain trust the desire to show their new developments and to personally meet with clients. We have been the only international lifestyle trade fair to welcome large numbers of foreign visitors after the pandemic. Since then, other large events like the Salone del Mobile in Milan have demonstrated the interest that can be generated by fairs. Once again, visitors seem to be very interested in attending our events.”
Among the new developments for September: “The launch of Future on Stage will present extraordinary young firms in the fields of decoration, design and lifestyle; the first three winners will be on view in the Future on Stage space at the entrance to Hall 5A. We are also producing the Spotlight areas in the Objet sectors for the first time, allowing visitors to easily discover a selection of new creative companies; this is both a demonstration of the ability of Maison&Objet to bring new talents together, and a way for our visitors to optimize their experience, through the discovery of new exhibitors in clearly identified individual spaces.”
At M&O 2022 there will be many famous designers, from Cristina Celestino, designer of the year for 2022, to Ineke Hans, Hella Jongerius, Kiki Van Eijk and Wieki Somers, who will select the Rising Talent Awards, and Bina Baitel, Charlotte Juillard, Pierre Gonalons, Samuel Accoceberry as ambassadors of French creativity. “Maison&Objet is a great opportunity to discover the main trends of our markets,” Guillaume Prot continues. “These trends are revealed through the offerings displayed by our exhibitors, helping visitors to refine their vision, and through the various spaces that also make a contribution to this discovery. For example, the Designer of the Year – in this case Cristina Celestino – will present her Palais Exotique in the new Mariage Frères restaurant. There are also the What’s New areas created by our trendsetters, and the program of Talks.”
The experimental aspect of the fair is an important factor, as the director of M&O emphasizes, “because we want our buyers to have a more pleasant, variegated experience during their visit, and we want to lead them into that mixture of discovery of new products and suppliers, along with major market developments, through theatrical and sometimes immersive areas that are all surprising and entertaining pauses during the time spent in the fair.”
Since the pandemic M&O’s way of communicating has changed, with more engaging digital contents, and MOM, the platform with 6000 brands and designers, 480,000 buyers and 2 million visitors. “Our MOM platform was launched 6 years ago and its impact has been exceptional in recent years. Many companies that were not prepared for the scenario of 2020 have utilized the platform in order to stay in touch with the community of Maison&Objet. We have supported these interactions through many online activities, like the Digital Fairs (in September 2020) or the thematic Digital Days that focus on specific sectors and types of companies. Based on the excellent results achieved by MOM, we have involved the platform in important developments that will complete the online experience and offer new services for our subscribers before the end of this year.”
After the restart, the results of M&O have been very positive, Guillaume Prot concludes. “The show is gradually returning to its pre-pandemic position, and we can sense the strong attachment to the event on the part of our community. September will probably represent a new step forward in terms of volume of visitors, linked to the number of companies, where we will see decisive growth with respect to the last edition.”
