Work, work. After Frankfurt, Hannover, Hamburg and Cologne it is finally time for Paris and Maison&Objet. The French fair is always full of inspiration and colours. A fun trip. I will do my report in two parts. First about colours etc and second on sustainability. And if you want to see my video interview with “guest of honour” Michael Anastassiades you can do it here.
So, where to start? The fair was busy. Everyone is a bit nervous because of threat of recession and “death of retail”. At one of the days I was there, the halls were pretty empty and you could see how stand staff were standing with their arms crossed as a sign of frustration. But it wasn’t all like that. Some hours and some days were busy as always.
Parallell to the fair you also have all the fabrics and textile showrooms showing their new things. And I must say – we still see the same beige as we have seen for a long while. I talked to an international designer and she said that people were scared. Not daring to push new patterns or colours. Everyone was going for “safe”. Things that sold last year will be pushed this year too. There is a huge fear of recession and “death of retail”. What will sell? And to who? Will anyone actually buy anything?
So wandering around the showrooms you see the same colours and patterns as for the last five years. A lot. Some are really nice, of course, but very little new.
You could partially see this at the fair too. At three parts of the the fair invited curators and guests select their best of the best, newest of the new. Well, I would argues that this is not so new.
But don’t worry. I have my trend glasses on. And at a fair in this size you will absolutely find new and intriguing things. You just have to look harder.
The first trend I want to menion is a kind of a Mallorca trend. I see plenty of references to the Mediterranean lifestyle. Kind of a reaction to the Scandinavian. So more colours, more retro, more noise. Ceramics and oranges…
And I just love this coloured table.
Retro rattan
Jonathan Adler with ceramics and mimosa flowers.
Oranges and the colour orange. A casual lifestyle. Plenty of that at HK Living.
Orange glass at HK Living.
Chill and relaxed table set at Serax
Dutch &Klevering took the whole retro feeling to a whole new level.
&Klevering
Regardless if you have ceramics or not, you want to decorate with Mediterranean details.
Another trend theme is of course the blue. Colour the year according to Pantone.
Overall I am looking to tendencies and visual impressions that represent something new. Not the beige Scandinavianism we have seen for a while. Here a fantastic table at Bensimon.
Strong colours at Sieger by Furstenberg
Not everything is extremly bright. It could be more pastelly, but absolutely more colour combinations.
Bathroom installation at Spanish E.xt.
And finally. We need to talk about “animal of the year”. The toucan bird. It is everywhere. Forget the flamingo or the owl. Get a toucan