A Visit to the Maison-Objet Trade Fair in Paris

Twice a year (in September and January) the vast convention complex known as Villepinte around 20 minutes north of Paris gets filled with furniture, fabric, and design manufacturers from around the globe. Maison-Objet is literally translated from French as: House-Object. The whole experience is sort of a cross between the furniture shows held twice a year in High Point and the New York Gift Show. Over 3500 suppliers exhibited their latest lines at the January show. The event is spread out over the vast nine building convention center that covers close to 2,000,000 square feet. A day at Maison-Objet can be exhausting, if only because of the ground that you have to cover!

I am always fascinated to see how new design trends develop: whether it is from the flea market visits that I described in an earlier blog posting or by visiting art exhibits at museums. In the same way, you can see how high-end design trends start to get translated into the more mainstream design world by attending these kinds of trade fairs. Much like the famous Paris couture fashion shows, by visiting them one year you can see what will be quickly copied and that people will be wearing (or in this case sitting on or living with) twelve months from now. Just as in all trends, the fresh new idea starts to trickle out to mass consumer manufacturers and becomes a little watered down for mass appeal.

So you have a sense of how huge the show is, here is a photo of just one of the various halls at Maison-Objet.

The overall show is broken up into six broad categories: furniture, outdoor furniture, textiles for the home, tabletop, fabrics /wall coverings and accessories. Additionally, there are several areas devoted to design trends. I usually try to spend two full days at Maison-Objet; the first day is spent just going through the entire complex looking in very quickly at the various exhibitors. This approach gives me a kind of bird’s eye view of the overall show and helps give me a sense of what’s new and what’s on the way out.

Here are a couple of more photos of some of the various exhibitors from the show:

On my second day at Maison-Objet I go back and spend more time at the exhibitors where I found things of particular interest. I talk with the product designers and sales people to get a sense of what led them to develop their new lines and products. I try to get a gage on what people are responding to and what’s selling. At the same time I look for new products that I think will be good for projects on which we are currently working.

Over the years of visiting the show I have found some favorite suppliers that I always like to visit because they always seem to have a good pulse on what is happening next. One of these is a company called Moissonier, an old-line furniture manufacturer that had a renaissance around 10 years ago when they brought on-board a woman who had spent her career at some of the top Paris fashion houses. She brought a whole new perspective to their product line. All of a sudden their staid case goods line took on a whole new look as they were painted the same bold, bright colors that we are used to seeing in fashion, but not on cabinets or desks. It started slowly, but within a couple of years, you started to see the same bold colored furniture at one exhibitor after another. I knew that the trend had peaked when I started seeing this look at such mainstream merchants as Pottery Barn and Crate & Barrel.

Here’s a look at what Moissonier was showing this season:

You can see that they are still using the same bright colors of recent years-it will be interesting to see how their product line continues to evolve in the future.

Another one of my favorite stops is at the French wallpaper company, Iksel. They are at the forefront of wallpaper because a number of years ago they realized that they are really in the imaging business and they invested in the best quality scanners and printers. They can take just about any image and customize it for your needs. In recent years I have worked with them on a number of projects and I continue to be amazed at their creativity. When I referred to  them  as a wallpaper company that doesn’t really do them justice; I am currently working with them on a wonderful 18^th century pattern that we are exploring putting on large glass panels for a hotel project that we are doing. Here’s a photo of me with one of the owners looking at a new design that they have created from a panel borrowed from the Louvre Museum’s Decorative Arts gallery. By the way, Iksel will soon be offering their paper on Decorati!

It usually takes me several weeks to kind of process what I saw at the shows but some of my immediate impressions from this show are:

-Metallic and shiny fabrics are still popular but now we are not just seeing silver, in the year to come we will be seeing more gold metallics…not shiny, gaudy gold, but soft glittery gold. This trend is even extending into the increased use of crystal in furniture and accessories.

-Stripes were everywhere in fabrics: at the top fabric houses, in towels and linens and even in upholstery.

-Art Deco is coming back…we’ve been seeing French 40′s furniture for the last couple of years but I think that we will start to see an increase in the earlier art deco period. Here is a beautiful cabinet that I saw at one of my favorite Italian suppliers, Chellini:

-Black, white and grey used in the same room is really hot; a highly lacquered paint finish on traditional furniture seems to go hand in hand with this trend.

-Rough textures and polished materials are being mixed together a lot in the same setting and even the same piece of furniture. Here’s an example of this in a table and chair setting:

-Finally we will be seeing a trend to comfort in the home—the organizer’s of the Maison-Objet show even did a special exhibit on the home as a refuge—in these difficult times who doesn’t want to go home to a safe, nurturing environment!?!

It will be interesting to see how some of these trends play out on the international design scene. Let’s see 12 months from now how my predictions come to pass!