“Paris is a moveable feast,” Ernest Hemingway wrote, referring to the 1920s, though little seems to have changed when it comes to lively events, encounters and activities in the capital during Paris Design Week. A “ten-day week” on design in all its forms, with the fall edition of Maison&Objet as one of its epicentres. The numbers tell the story: 450 participants in 350 venues; over 2,500 exhibitors in seven halls at the Paris-Nord Villepinte Exhibition Centre.
The fair facility welcomed some important new developments, starting with the “Well-being & Beauty” area that brought together 80 companies from the wellness industry; likewise, the “Hospitality Lab” put the spotlight on trends in hospitality, while the exhibition “Inspire Me!” created in collaboration with the agency Peclers International offered an immersive path through the latest evolutions in terms of style and society, as inspiration for future projects. The area known as “The Designer’s Studio” was also noteworthy, focusing on a self-made approach through four designers and their self-produced creations.
This year the designers were Sebastian Cox, the studio Masquespacio, Faye Toogood and Dirk van der Koij – known for his passion for upcycling expressed in complements with imaginative hues and patterns. The “Welcome to Pattern Factory” installation by Elizabeth Leriche (in Hall 7) certainly did not go unnoticed: sparkling colours and hypnotic patterns created a playful universe of dots, flowers, textures and stripes from floor to ceiling, including the furniture, divided into five stylistic exercises set in as many small alcoves: an invitation to freedom of expression. Maison&Objet is known for its accent on decoration, so along with the experiments and research plenty of room was provided for décor collections. Bitossi Home was one of them, narrating a new universe for the table made of soft colors and primordial symbols, thanks to collaborations with Sam Baron and Pangea.
Like open-air galleries, the city’s districts welcomed companies, designers, schools, emerging talents, gallerists, decorators and institutions, spreading through the areas of Opéra-Concorde-Etoile, Marais-Bastille-République, Rive Gauche and (new for 2023) Palais Royal-Place des Victoires-Pigalle.
In the store at Paris Rive Gauche, Cassina produced an exclusive talk with Emanuele Coccia to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Cassina iMaestri collection, with an exclusive avant-première of the book “Echoes. Cassina. 50 Years of iMaestri” published by Rizzoli and edited by Ivan Mietton.
At 10 Rue de l’Abbaye Giorgetti opened the doors of its “design gallery” to present the brand’s icons together with new furnishings and the developments of the Atmosphere collection, including an original En Plein Air picnic kit in leather, produced in collaboration with Pineider.
The flagship store of Molteni&C hosted the 2023 collection, with display design by Vincent Van Duysen, underscoring the indoor-outdoor versatility of the collection through new creations like the Augusto sofa and the Mateo table (both designed by the creative director), the Porta Volta chair by Herzog & de Meuron and the Cannella chair by Naoto Fukasawa, all the way to the first Molteni&C|Outdoor collection.
The signature of Ron Gilad stood out in an installation for Unifor in Paris, where the protagonists were the new bookcase systems XYZ by Foster + Partners and Bokhus by Snøhetta, reprising the model of the showroom in Milan.
A magnificent Haussmannian flat, transformed into a showroom, presented the collections of &Tradition, as well as a tribute to Jaime Hayon: the space featured wall drawings and display cases for his projects, with backstage narratives and the new Momento collection of accessories for the home by the designer.
In the lively setting of the Paris Design Factory, in the Marais, the exhibition “WARMth” was produced by a collective of Chinese designers and artists – including the brand Liang that explores everyday life with an artistic vision, transforming common glasses into sculptures on pedestals.
Combining contemporary creations with forays into design history, “Expressive Itinérance Design” is a traveling group show that brings together gallerists, designers, artisans and makers of editions, curated by Jean-François Declercq, Marie Godfrain and David Herman, as well as the founders of the initiative. The many works on view included mirrors by Samuel Accoceberry.
A recurring presence at Paris Design Week, designer Laura Gonzalez presented her latest new creations in the collection “Conversations, Experiments and Ramblings,” creating an original theatrical setting with a Surrealist character inside her studio on Rue de Lille.
