SPECIAL REPORT: trends from Paris 🇫🇷👨🎨
A quick trip to the French capital — and all the things I saw on the street and at one of the world's most exciting design fairs.
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Bonjour from not-Paris, where I write this after a fast and furious weekend in the city for Matter and Shape, a now iconic (To me!) design fare coinciding with fashion week that represents what’s next not only in for design but culture. It was a fabulous trip, and definitely one that was met warmly as the city was literally in a premature spring and I felt-the-love in a European city that I haven’t in a minute. Should I move to Paris?? This question always runs through my mind but, for the time being, the answer is a no. Unless someone in Paris has other plans: you tell me.
I wanted to recap the trip in two ways, to give you a look at things to keep track on as far as design and culture cues. First, we’ll explore trends spotted at Matter and Shape before moving on to generally things-I-spotted in the French capital. Grab a baguette and let’s see the sights!
Following its debut two years ago, Mater and Shape this year was a big two tent affair that saw creatives from around the world showcasing everything from jewelry to lighting, scents to sound devices. It was a lot, as always, and we only saw one celebrity there (Tracee Ellis Ross). No matter, it was a thrill and we’re already planning to go back next year. Here are items to watch out for!
Dots! Dots!! Dots!!! As if in conversation with the TikTok knobbing box guy, there were so many knobby bits and bobs all around the fair: Italy’s Leucos offered cute little spot lights, where the bulb is a bulbous spot on a square; another Italian maker, ceramics outfit Mutina, brought angular and boxy creations to life via dots and spots as joints; France’s FR AR had leather objects spotted and ridged for your pleasure; and another French concept, La Romaine Edition, who showed dotted and bulbous glassware. The biggest breakout — and most fun — was Canada’s 22 System plug mirror, suggesting the plug as a circular portal for fun. Speaking of! This ties to another trend…
Technical items as beautiful items, in that the 22 System plug mirror takes the humble outlet and uses it as a conversation starter, as a suggestion of infinity, of mixing and matching and playing games by uplifting the everyday place-you-plug-in. France’s Petite Friture exhibited its Sandows collection, which take sleek steel chrome frames and layers it with matching bungee cords. France’s Mobilier National had a similar idea with a Marcel Poulain chest at center, featuring both knobs and technical fastening in blond wood. Tech is beautiful, this seems to say — meaning: the worker is as beautiful as the work itself.
This was echoed in the build-it-yourself trend too, with Herzog & DeMueron stools meant to be packed flat and designed to suit you along with Mateo Garcia speakers that suggested flat-packed sheets.
