Maison & Objet   

As Maison & Objet came to an end last week, a quick recap seems in order. No revolutionary changes were observed, merely evolutions of design directions previously noted.

FutuRustic

The revived interest in rustic furnishings and interiors was front and center. It is a continuation of what I previously described as "Chalet Style," derived as it is for the most part from mountain resorts, stretching from the Adirondacks to the Alps.

Large scale and rough hewn furnishings are the hallmark of this style – with architecture hewing close to nature and hand craftsmanship an important contributing element. Its growing influence is recognized in a new book, "Chalets: An Art of Living" by Gwenaelle Leprat. Chalets in Chamonix, Megeve, Gstaad and Crans, Montana opened their doors to the photographe...Read More

As Maison & Objet came to an end last week, a quick recap seems in order. No revolutionary changes were observed, merely evolutions of design directions previously noted.

FutuRustic

The revived interest in rustic furnishings and interiors was front and center. It is a continuation of what I previously described as "Chalet Style," derived as it is for the most part from mountain resorts, stretching from the Adirondacks to the Alps.

Large scale and rough hewn furnishings are the hallmark of this style – with architecture hewing close to nature and hand craftsmanship an important contributing element. Its growing influence is recognized in a new book, "Chalets: An Art of Living" by Gwenaelle Leprat. Chalets in Chamonix, Megeve, Gstaad and Crans, Montana opened their doors to the photographe...Read More

As Maison & Objet came to an end last week, a quick recap seems in order. No revolutionary changes were observed, merely evolutions of design directions previously noted.

FutuRustic

The revived interest in rustic furnishings and interiors was front and center. It is a continuation of what I previously described as "Chalet Style," derived as it is for the most part from mountain resorts, stretching from the Adirondacks to the Alps.

Large scale and rough hewn furnishings are the hallmark of this style – with architecture hewing close to nature and hand craftsmanship an important contributing element. Its growing influence is recognized in a new book, "Chalets: An Art of Living" by Gwenaelle Leprat. Chalets in Chamonix, Megeve, Gstaad and Crans, Montana opened their doors to the photograph...Read More

Paris. Monday.

Welcome to the busiest day of the show – crowds, if anything, have been increasing, attendance reaching a fever pitch.

One reason may well be an event that has long intrigued and impressed me: namely the integration of cuisine into Maison & Objet as part of its mantra to celebrate all parts of the Art of Living. That's not limited to design or decor but assuredly includes the pleasure we take in food, its creation, its presentation and, ultimately, its satisfaction.

Monday marks the annual return, of “Paris des Chefs,” an event organized in collaboration with Omnivore for the general public running parallel to the main show. The idea is to put 12 chefs and 12 designers on the same stage providing a springboard for a shared vision of elegance and taste, thereby creating an opportunity to discove...Read More

Paris: Sat/Sun

Scanning the textiles hall at Maison & Objet, a fast assessment is that there is no earthshaking news. What changes are apparent are more subtle and incremental, both in color and design direction.

Household linens, the show contends, are an indispensable part of our lifestyle. Its caress rediscovered every day - whether table linens, bed or bath textiles, colorful or calmly sophisticated, home textiles are the first and last thing we touch to our skin and use to brighten our home environment.

Color always rates highest in interest to design professionals, and what we are seeing are increased percentages – a strengthening of directions – which emerged over the last year but have come clearer into focus.

Yellows have broadened dramatically and now fall into three different families. One are the pure sunshine...Read More

Paris, Thursday

A promising start before the opening of Maison & Objet tomorrow. 

As it turned out, the auxiliary show Paris Deco Off was open today, allowing visitors to take in those high-end decorator showrooms, most of them dedicated to textiles I referred to yesterday.

A festive atmosphere prevailed, and heavy foot traffic in the trade-concentrated neighborhoods bodes well for attendance of M&O and designer and retailer interest in new designs. A few directions are already evident:

Linen rules supreme as a background cloth for wovens and prints – its surface embellishments often in marked contrast to this humble and all-natural material used in the raw against velvet appliqués and lavish embroideries offset by the dull-faced linen,

Large scale designs...Read More

Maison & Objet – the twice-a-year decorative tour de force – is where designers and architects, buyers and sellers, editors and journalists from around the world convene to share and absorb innovative new concepts for living and view inventive new products for the home.

Ambitions to re-enforce the show's pre-eminence as a trend and style leader runs especially high this time as the show commemorates and celebrates its 10th anniversary, a decade during which each successive exhibit trumped the last.

Already, M&O is looking ahead to September for its next coup: to annex "Paris Meubles," formerly shown in a different location, for the first time bringing  furniture under the same roof as all other home product categories for easier one-stop shopping.

In reviewing my notes and observations, these developments stand out:

Interior designers are most important to the high end of the home furnishings business. As creators of upscale home products, as specifiers, and as buyers for their clients, they are the seducers who have long occupied and energized the upper ranks of the industry

Only the most recent and current include Jacques Garcia, Tony Duquette,  Barbara Barry (most recently at Henredon), to name but a handful of an army of creators Baker Furniture has recruited over the years. Larry Laslo and, soon, David Eastman for Ferguson Copeland, Thomas O'Brien, Alexa Hampton, Marietta Himes Gomez and Suzanne Kasler at Hickory Chair, Richard Frinier at Century, Lillian August starting with Drexel Heritage now designs for Hickory White. And that...Read More

Buy American is a battle cry heard recently at some of the latest trade shows: In Table Top, Lester Gribetz, former co-chair of Bloomigdale's and now president/ceo of Lenox, is openly committed to American-made and American designers and intent on putting his company's emphasis there.

In High Point, a whiff of the old patriotic pride could be perceived, and the subject came up in several high-end furniture showrooms. 

If by chance you are thinking that this hints at outsourcing in reverse, you would be smoking something that's illegal. That's just not going to happen for two reasons. Labor cost is the most obvious and continuing obstacle to domestic production, and what started outsourcing in the first place. The other: manufacturers long ago sold off their equipment and closed many of their...Read More

And not just on the wall. On furniture as well. Fabric purveyors and wall decor exhibitors have gotten into handwriting analysis with images of old-fashioned script which has re-emerged here - alas, only as a decorative curiosity. A number of furniture sources are featuring a sepia colored (as for aged documents) printed fabric and used it on upholstery. And not just boutique companies, but some of the big boys are doing it, too. Among them Pearson, Haute House, Drexel Heritage and others.

Soicher Marin, a wall decor source, took the trend one step further with a display of farm logs taken from French Chateaux documents. They are not just decorative but also very educational as they recite day-by day what farmers did to sew and harvest. Their age-proven methods might remind you that we did not invent "green;"...Read More

The Bad News: Traffic definitely diminished. Very few showrooms are busy; many more are empty.

Media participation substantially down as well. The parking garage at the local Best Western is an empty shell at night. Restaurants, in the whole of Triad environs, that is, are half full. Excuses are many: massive consolidation, pre-Market activity, and, yes, the lingering recession. 

The Good News: Showrooms look terrific - and while offerings are conservative in nature, upholstery in particular is hogging the attention with richly colorful fabrics, metallic vinyl and chunky texture.

If you listened to too many forecasters declaring "Gray the Next Big Neutral," you would be betting on the wrong pony. Gray was last year's most important color - so much so, it reached the tipping point of saturation. It has been edged out overwhelmingly a...Read More