Maison Objet: The future of home design is located 40 minutes from Paris
Twice yearly in January and September, at a vast exhibition facility outside of Paris, Maison Objet (www.maison-objet.com) takes place. More than a home furnishings and fashion trade show, Maison Objet calls itself a "magnetic pole" for home design professionals. Access to the influential show is largely limited to design professionals, and at the January 2008 show, more than 86,000 of them wandered through the vast 1.3 million square feet Paris-Nord Villepinte Exhibition Center to check out the more than 3,000 brands on display from Europe's most esteemed home furnishings vendors. The visitors are truly an international group. 48% of the attendees came from Eastern Europe, 38% from Oceania (New Zealand and Australia), 27% from the Middle East and 25% from the European Union and Western Europe. North America accounted for only 5% of the visitors.
Among the North American visitors was Proteus' own Steffen Koury. Steffen is the Design Manager at Proteus, as well as a Product Developer. If you ask him what he does at the company, he'll tell you he's "a style guy and a trend tracker." He's telling the truth. Steffen goes to Maison Object every year to get a sense of the latest trends in home design - "the shapes, forms, colors and materials that will begin to show up in showrooms and mass merchandisers in the United States a year later." He comes home with a vision of the future of home design that he shares with both the members of our staff and our clients. For our clients and our designers, Steffen's pictures, descriptions and insights are often a powerful influence on the design process in particular and a major source of direction and inspiration in general.
We'll let him tell you in his own words what makes Maison Objet such an eye-opening experience.
"If you've never visited the show, Maison Objet is an overwhelming forest of visual candy. The venue hosts over 3,000 exhibitors - basically the crème de la crème of European home design presenting ideas of the homes of tomorrow. The event is a true international reference for styles, materials, forms and colors. In Paris alone, one can't help but be inspired by the fashion, the fine cuisine, the architecture and the culture. But for me, that's just the icing on the cake. The real allure is this "magnetic pole" of extraordinary home design. It's like nothing else - a million square feet of non-stop stimulation.
At Maison Objet, creative designers identify global trends based on emerging consumer behaviors. These trends provide the rationale for the styles that result. Each show is created around a theme. This year's was entitled "Wonderment - An Invitation to Dream," and I have to say, they got that one right. The designers were encouraged to imagine radically different worlds than the one we know currently. There were three sub-themes, each expressed in rooms that were creative enough to be art installations. If you saw them in a museum of contemporary art, you wouldn't be the least bit surprised
The first theme was Bizarre Bazaar - in the words of the event planners, "bringing together strange objects that toy with the ambient conformity." Ambient conformity - otherwise known as playing it safe. If ours is a society that is overly orderly, obsessed with comfort and well-being and choked with functionality, what the designers who worked with this theme were presenting were "new behaviors that worship the extraordinary." Their attitude was, enough of the world being too well behaved, too complacent, too right-thinking, too P.C. Enough with all the rules and regs. Let's be bold and different. I realize this can be a hard concept to grasp in the abstract, but just think about the youth of today. They're fascinated by the absurdity of movies like Jackass. That was kind of the idea. Using combinations that included expected materials and harsh integrations of contrasting styles, the designers succeeded in injecting a dose of healthy nonsense into things. To say that they shook up conventional design is an understatement. But, then, that was the whole idea
The second theme was Transform, and it shared a lot in common with Bizarre Bazaar. As the hosts of the event described this theme, "The world of objects has been caught red-handed in transformation. Art is reflecting the metamorphosis of protean material, propelling objects into the outlying regions of our dreams and nightmares." I'm not making this up. These were in essence the instructions that were issued to the designers. Make changes. Support radical mutations. Rough up the old archetypes - they're at the point of destruction and disappearance anyway.
You can just imagine what bold designers would do with such a radical directive.
The third theme was Presque La. Not Shangri-La, but Presque La - French for Almost There. As the sponsors described it: the idea of things in motion. Their directive to the exhibitors was to show things that are incomplete, things to be finished, praising the missing part in an effort to tell the story of tomorrow.
Presque La was all about atmosphere - telling a decorative story through implied meaning, finding symbolism in objects that take us back to our roots. The color palette was whites, grays and neutrals; the feeling was dreamy, imaginative, calm and introspective. I thought the statement by one of the artists whose work was being displayed was particularly meaningful. Her name was Marie Garnier, and she had this to say:
'I seek to underscore representations of the living by observing the foundation of the world and social sedimentations of everyday life.'
Heady stuff, to be sure. But if you saw the wedding gown with seeds sewn into the fabric or the funeral urn made of biodegradable bread as a representation of rest rather than death, you'd begin to get the idea.
Here are a few more impressions of both the show and my trip:
STYLES
Natural Elements such as antlers, coral, and tree branches seemed to expand from ethnic styles into almost every category, including contemporary styles. Of course these natural elements are expressed in unique ways including chrome, plastic and rubber.
The use of figurines seemed to be more prevalent at this show. Everything from hand carved wooden fish to an odd chandelier created from a ball of small bodies. The best way to describe it is a ball of translucent plastic army men glued together with a light shinning from the center.
The predominate color was green, all shades of green, almost a reflection of today's commitment to ecco friendliness. Most green colors were more chartreuse pared with lighter or darker tones of green and/or a medium grey. All white and all black schemes are still holding strong. New to the show is the use of warmer metal finishes such as copper, nickel and bronze. These finishes have been around; however they are making more of an appearance in the contemporary style. Also new was the use of colorful anodized aluminum finishes applied to vases. These darker rich tones of red, purple and green were not the usual colors that you see on maglites.
STAY
Le Royal Monceau
An elegant hotel located a block from the Arc de Triomphe, with classic French styling and including an indoor pool and Jacuzzi. Perfect for relaxing after a day of walking and lugging around brochures. Madonna's 1990 video "Justify My Love" was filmed here. Numerous entertainers and political figures have enjoyed the facilities.
SHOP
In the 8th district along La Fauborg you will find all your high-end boutiques to browse. The Galliers Lafayette, near the opera, is a good way to see the latest in fashion all in one area. In the United States, you have to go to boutiques or specialty stores to see and shop the avant-garde. In Paris, the department stores carry every style from traditional to contemporary.
DINE
Georges
Offers a panoramic view of the city. The interior space was designed by Philip Stark and includes flowing, cave-like molded metallic forms, dividing the dining areas.
La Cantine Du Faubourg
Hip but peaceful ambiance with images projected on the walls. The atmosphere was a contemporary setting of subtle lighting and a DJ spinning lounge beats.
Au Pied De Cochon
Casual bistro atmosphere. Reasonably priced. Situated near a park that once was an outdoor meat market. Combining old tradition and current trends, it remains true to the product that made its name: pork.
L'Arome
Contemporary, trendy bistro
Every year, Steffen creates a detailed report of Maison Objet, including photographs, that captures the inspirational value of the show. If you'd like a copy, please e-mail Tom Feeheley at tom@proteusdesign.com.
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