France’s Top Design Fair Maison&Objet Gets a Makeover
MILAN — Maison&Objet, which just celebrated its 30th birthday, is gearing up to reshape the fair for both its September and January editions.
The fair’s managing director Mélanie Leroy told WWD that the fall edition will see a more consumer-driven format dedicated to unearthing under the radar talent and putting forth cutting-edge trends, as soon as it opens Sept. 5. The January edition is being groomed to meet the needs of the premium brands that traditionally show during the winter season.
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“Our community relies on us and Paris has been a major marketplace for the design business. Thanks to Maison&Objet and since the pandemic, we have created formats such as Maison&Objet in the City engineered for brands that still want to be part of our community but would rather stay in their showroom instead of building a booth. Once again, we have adapted,” Leroy said.
The September edition, which will close Sept. 9, will see a section dedicated to the new and avant-garde with emerging talents from Scandinavia via its historic international “rising talents award” program, and an exhibition of young designers from Hong Kong as part of a yearly partnership with Hong Kong design week will also be on display.
The Maison&Objet Factory curated by Paris Design Week will also put forth fresh names like Paris-based furniture designer Senimo; design and architecture firm Corpus Studio and Raphael Pontais, as well as Netherlands-based lighting designers Rollo Studio and Hyères-based designer James Haywood. Main highlights in September include talks with Maison creative director Cordelia de Castellane and ready-to-wear designer Yves Salomon, who made his foray into the furniture arena with Chapo Creation in April. Belgian interior architect, decorator and artist Lionel Jadot, Maison&Objet Designer of the Year and his team of designers and visionaries involved in his Zaventem Ateliers collective are gearing up to create a space around the zero-waste potential of the hospitality sector.
Focus on Cuisine
The fair has revamped its Cook&Share section, reducing its presence to an annual one rather than a biannual one. Cook&Share will showcase in September and feature a dedicated restaurant in the heart of the hall to attract visitors. The section will be a recurring fall event focused on cooking, tableware, culinary accessories and gourmet food. Shops and department stores, purchasing groups, decorators, hotels and restaurants will find industry innovations each fall.
Collectible Design and Hospitality
The January edition will showcase three distinct facets: a focus on collectible design, what’s new in hospitality and a fashion component dedicated to unveiling opportunities for retail where accessories and men’s and home fashion are on show.
The fair named Belgian hospitality designer Lionel Jadot as Designer of the Year — Hospitality. This title recognizes an eminent personality whose career, vision, signature and uniqueness set the standard for the profession. A member of the Vanhamme family of furniture-makers, he is also well-known for his work with repurposed materials and reinvention of spaces. The prize will be awarded to him at Maison&Objet exhibition in September. To mark the occasion, he will have carte blanche for his pavilion, thus allowing him to showcase his interior design philosophy.
Power in Numbers
Overall, Paris Design Week, which is also coordinated by SAFI, the same team behind Maison&Objet, will feature more than 400 spots throughout the city of Paris and put forth 127 young talents, compared to 80 last year.
The Paris Design Week Factory will unfold Sept. 5 to 14, and is one of the city’s key events, taking place at four venues in the same district: it reveals the best in young and emerging talents on an international scale, after a call for entries.
Overall, Maison&Objet aims to have 25 percent of exhibitors at each edition be new brands, with 30 percent represented by first time visitors. In September, the fair will welcome 600 new brands and a total of 2,200.
The fair said that its marketplace MOM is thriving with an 11 percent rise in visitors since its launch a year ago. MOM is the only marketplace online that allows direct to consumer and B2B brands alike to make direct buy/sell transactions. Trade professionals make up 60 percent of its total audience. The other 40 percent are retailers. The site has welcomed three million visits in one year and 20,000 stoppable products.
Propelling Women in Design
In July, Maison&Objet unveiled the first creative and business network of the design industry dedicated to fostering relationships between women. Leroy said Woman&Design by Maison&Objet is a business and creative collective that aims to identify, connect and promote women who are pushing the boundaries of product design, interior decoration, craft and lifestyle.
Outside of the fair, Leroy joined Leia Capital in 2022, an angel investor group dedicated to investing in innovative projects led by women. Leroy now wants to leverage the fair’s strengths as a business partner and its community to better serve the women in the industry.
Forging Ties in the U.S.
In June, the organization revealed that it appointed Nina Magon its official U.S. ambassador. Magon is the founder of Nina Magon studio, which is active in the luxury residential, commercial and hospitality worlds. The fair said Magon is a woman whose path has transformed the industry and her task will be to create a network with the fair rather than attempting to export Maison&Objet to the U.S. in the near term.
“Exporting a show for the sake of its image will not make sense if we were not able to deliver connections, business and growth to our community. And this is what we are all about. That’s how we have grown our presence in the U.S. and how we hope to grow through ambassadors like Nina,” Leroy said.
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