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
Faye Toogood's Womanifesto! presentation
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's Hotel 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
Elizabeth Leriche's Maison et Objet presentation
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
Minjae Kim’s carved wooden chairs
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
An owl-shaped vase by Marni
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
Emeline Bosset's sitting-and-standing desk
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's lighting collection, Sfera
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
Small-scale furniture pieces by Fintzi, Adolfo Abejon and Ming Design Studio
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
Antoine Crisias' Presque lights
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' Sisyphe collection
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.
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'A creative explosion' in the West End: Sarabande Foundation takes residency at SelfridgesSarabande Foundation's ‘House of Bandits’ takes up residence with gusto in Selfridges for nine weeks
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Yves Béhar describes his approach to design, built around a core of sustainable processes and positive social impactYves Béhar is the Swiss-born American founder of Fuseproject, a San Francisco-based multidisciplinary design studio with an outpost in Lisbon. Béhar's work is held in collections at both MoMA and SFMoMA and includes everything from mobility design to medical technology, robotics and high tech start-ups
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Photographing free time in South Korea: rare days off captured in new bookFree time is hard-earned in South Korea. In Seunggu Kim's new photography book 'Better Days,' he captures the beauty of the country at play
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Ozone and Dominique Perrault Architecture create a series of monumental aluminium lampsOzone worked with Dominique Perrault and his partner Gaëlle Lauriot-Prévost to present the ‘Furtiv’ collection, featuring a series of aluminium lamps inspired by the architect's Bibliothèque François-Mitterrand in the 1990s
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Is this the most beautiful office in the world?Parisian creative agency Art Recherche Industrie’s new HQ translates a 19th-century landmark into a chic open-plan office worth leaving home for
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Mono Editions launches furniture in cork and paper pulpLaunched with a pop-up in Paris (23-27 March 2022), Mono Edition presents modular designs by architects, crafted from sustainable single materials
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Odile Mir’s granddaughter is reissuing her 1970s French furnitureParisian designer Léonie Alma Mason launches LOMM Editions – a new brand presenting 1970s furniture designs created by her grandmother, nonagenarian artist Odile Mir
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Faye Toogood unveils first homeware collectionToogood Homeware makes its debut with the Dough and Plough collections, extending the British designer’s sculptural silhouettes to minimalist tableware and textiles
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Historic Paris apartment gets wrapped in soft minimalismArchitect Saba Ghorbanalinejad reworks the historic architecture of this Le Marais apartment for the 21st century
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Francesco Faccin reinvents an anonymous classic chair designFrancesco Faccin revises a traditional chair design for his project presented by Rome-based gallery Giustini / Stagetti
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Faye Toogood’s latest rug collection is inspired by absent-minded ‘Doodles’The British designer realises a colourful new rug collection with cc-tapis
