Bon jour. Time to make a review of Paris Design Week and Maison & Objet.
Should we start with official numbers? Maison & Objet have published their official numbers here. And we can see that they have 1 700 brands and I haven’t found any official numbers for visitors yet. But searching the internet I found that someone say that this fair had 67 300 visitors. Here is the source.
If I compare my notes from September 2025 here, we see that last time M&O had 2 125 brands and around 51 000 visitors.
As a first reflection, these numbers look accurate. As mentioned, we are still waiting for the official visitor numbers from the organisers – but the fair was busy. But small. We see that in numbers. Over 425 fewer brands from last year. That’s a big chunk.
Maison&Objet is without a doubt the biggest and most important fair after summer. As a big and important exhibitor said “we meet 50% of our top buyers here”. Emails and Zoom calls are important but meeting face-to-face is still relevant.
Paola Navone on her scooter… And as you might see, the halls are pretty busy with people. But it was small. The whole fair felt so much smaller than previous years.
If we continue with Paris Design Week. This is growing. Approximately around 500 venues and activities. The neighbourhood around Galerie Joseph attracts a lot of innovative, young design. And perhaps canabalising on the fair… Most larger brands like La Chance, even Seletti, are doing activities in the city rather than at the fair.
I remember one thing. Was it two years ago when M&O had a section at the fair where they showed brands that had activities in the city? Kind of like “friends of M&O”. Brands like Serax who only showed in the city at that time, were allowed to be part of an exhibition at the fair and show their new things.
Not so anylonger. And I guess that has to do with selfesteem. It is easy to be generous when you feel like you’re on top of the world. And now M&O is not. Fewer exhibitors, smaller fair… Fewer wellknown brands. We haven’t touched on that, but is Bordallo Pinheiro (not even mother brand Vista Alegre) the best known tableware brand at M&O?
And one last thing. This is of course not the fault of the fair but it affects the overall impression. Everything, everything, everything was brown and boring…
Looking at my comments from last year, I see that I gave M&O 3 out of 5 points. I am sorry, but I must lower that. It is still the most important fair after summer, but it wasn’t memorable this time. At least not in a good way.
So, score: 2/5 points.
Now let’s look at some trends.
Leaves
I am 100% sure that fall or autumn will be bigger when it comes to homes and home interiors. It is logical. When you look at how Christmas have exploaded, so can fall/autumn. When making it more “fall” than Halloween, you can have objects that lasts longer and not just for a few days. But mark my words – I am 100% that we all will be getting a fall tableware set in a year or two.
Mushrooms are of course part of this season trend.
More exotice and not so seasonal – but gorgeous.
Colours
One very efficient way of looking at colour trends at M&O is at the VIP lounge called Le Club. Always well done.
And here you see a combination of oranges with terracotta. Perhaps grey (or soft green) as a balance. Yellow and pink to match.
And basically these are colours you will see at the stands too.
This picture above is from “Guest of Honour” installation by Studio Masquespacio.
Perhaps this colour palette gets a bit “wild and crazy” if you add purple to it?
Americana
In my report from Ambiente previously this year, I tried to talk about a new kind of shaker look. I still see that here at M&O, but maybe even more of some rural “Americana” aesthetic. No flags, but very “Little House on the Prarie” aesthetic.
These birds are of course also flirting with a Mediterranean look. Very Jean Cocteau….
Also this plaid pattern. I think this will grow.
Maybe even Mexican metal work?
And of course reduced ornaments in furniture by Veermakers.
Almost religious minimalism, as in shaker… From the talents section focusing on South African designers. This is Nish Studio.
Also these gigantic ceramic lamps from Serax.
Wintersports
We talked about how leaves can be a symbol of fall or autumn, and how this prolongs a holiday like Halloween. Wintersports is doing the same thing for winter and Christmas. It is still a bit more Christmas than you expect but there are no reds or santas in these motifs.