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Review of Maison&Objet Spring-Summer 2010 – Palettes and patterns
Reviews
By Le Vin Chin
Happening twice yearly, Maison&Objet in Paris is traditionally considered the second major destination in the furniture trade show calendar after Milan. At this January's show, 75,000 visitors visited 3,000 exhibitors in an exhibition large enough to cover all aspects of the furniture trade, from cutting edge and experimental design to luxury furnishings. As ever, the show put on three specially curated trend installations, but the real story was the trend in colors: a surprisingly clear and consistent palette could be discerned for the current season.
Color Palettes
What seemed like an outlier palette in 2008 (see Lanerossi’s stand in our review of Maison&Objet Autumn-Winter 2008 – perhaps they were simply a year and a half ahead of their time) is now mainstream; and amazingly consistent …
The colors of Big Game’s Bold chairs and Box coffee tables and stool (illuminated by Inga Sempé’s Vapeur lamps) at the Moustache stand.
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 Colors at the PARRI stand. |
Vases and other containers at Bamboo Lacquer [unfortunately no contact details].
Three color palettes – fiery reds, greeny blues and modest grays – from Ron Arad, in his Do-Lo-Rez sofas (for and by Moroso) and rugs (for and by nanimarquina).
The colors of Nydel’s tablecloths, made of printed cotton and coated with PVC.
 Linum’s colors. |  |
Colors at Mexx.
The full color palette revealed in the textiles of FANNYARONSEN.
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 On the other hand ... Whites, neutrals and wood at (top) Arketipo, (middle) Bruut and (bottom) Libeco. |
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Colors AND patterns at Orla Kiely.
Missoni threw the kitchen sink in when it came to colors and patterns …
Patterns and shapes
Which brings us to the second major trend of the show: patterns, patterns, everywhere. Designers seemed to have been looking for pattern inspiration in every corner, resulting in a hodge-podge (or a kaleidoscope, depending on how you want to look at it) of patterns inspired by different cultures and time periods.
Once again, Elizabeth Leriche curated one of the three trend installations at Maison&Objet. Her piece, Transcultures, illuminates the inter-exchange of design themes among global cultures.
Among the items curated: Portuguese artist Joana Vasconcelos’ work bedecking “threatening” animals with a light, delicate crocheted cotton fabric.
Transcultures: Designers seem to be looking for pattern inspiration everywhere!
Transcultures: Transplastic chairs and TransNeomatic bowls by the Campana brothers.
Donna Wilson’s Nos Da textiles for SCP.
Hay’s latest ottomans are upholstered with antique quilts made from multilayers of repurposed vintage saris. It was a pleasure to finally meet Rolf Hay after missing him at the Design Annual in 2007 and Maison&Objet in 2008 and to hear his thoughts on “representing the possibilities of today’s industries and technologies.”
Pieces in context at Hay: (left) Tube Chairs, (right) Expo Chairs, designed for the Dutch pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo 2010.
Organic shapes: Flower lamps by Ateh.
Stand decorated with plates specially created by Richard Ginori for the show.
Creative wallpapers by Tracy Kendall – this one has 20,000 jigsaw pieces individually attached …
Metallic
Lastly, metallics were still in vogue and in evidence …
Henri Massonnet’s Tam Tam stools from 1968 are updated by Branex Design with metallic colors …
… and brought bang up to date by by Eric Berthes, who re-envisions them as iPod/iPhone docks with integrated speakers.