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Review of Maison&Objet Autumn-Winter 2011: The colors are the story
Reviews
By Le Vin Chin
The best thing about Maison&Objet is that the show is a wonderful snapshot of current and cresting trends. While it may not have provided much in terms of surprise (it is, after all, a trade fair), this September’s Fall-Winter show captured once more the spirit of the moment in terms of design; form, materials, color, inspiration and intention. With this in mind, we are pleased to present our impressions from the exhibition halls at Nord Villepinte …
Color stories
Interestingly, the colors on show were not the colors of crisis, but were, rather, restrained, cool, relaxed and elegant. Yet, they were also bright, deep, energetic and subversive. Two main parallel color stories presented themselves, one a palette of poppy, bright, glossy, retro-pastel shades, another a palette of deeper, very chromatic tones, blending light to dusky sea blues and orange- to pink- – dawn-shade – reds.
Bright, glossy retro pastels
Calma create two color mood ranges: bright, glossy and creamy retro pastels (above) and darker, matt, silky shades (below).
UPDATE: Check out our interview with Calma on their color design!
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 The Manufacture Royale de Saint-Clement, founded in 1758, is attempting to inject a youthful energy into its range with a new line which features these bright, funky retro pastel shades. |
Contre-pied chairs by Claude Robin for les Jardins au bout du Monde.
Bright, glossy retro pastels: the color of the show
Delicate and precious – a pale lilac is the color of Alexa Lixfeld’s new line of tableware.
Red-white color combination
Colors at Fermob.
Step, a step-ladder designed to be a design object and not hidden away in a store-room, by Karl Malmvall, at the Design House Stockholm.
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ABOVE: Tablo tray-table by Magnus Löfgren, at the Design House Stockholm. Originally designed in 2000, it seems Löfgren’s colors are coming back into trend again! RIGHT: Sketch chairs by Claude Robin for les Jardins au bout du Monde. BELOW: Colors at Coco & Co Édition. |  |
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Deep chromatic colors
Colors at Interni Edition.
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 Colors at Anglepoise. |  Colors at Decor Walther. |
Colors at Pedrali.
Colors at EMU, including Arik Levy’s Pattern stools above and chairs from their Classic Collection, Star range.
Deep, chromatic colors at Fermob. Fermob has a palette of 23 metal colors and 19 fabric colors.
Sea blues and dawn reds
Sea blues at Jean Boggio for Franz.
Cool Aegean colors at Royal Botania.
Cool colors of the Slim Collection by Viteo.
Cool Aegean colors at Yothaka.
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ABOVE: Explosion of reds at Jean Boggio for Franz. RIGHT: Red washbasins at Sopha. BELOW: The latest edition (“004”) of Alexa Lixfeld’s line of perfumes sports a hot pink color on the concrete cap. Lixfeld explained that her move to perfume was a reaction against the material she’s most famous for, providing a light, ephemeral, intangible contrast to the heavy, tough, masculine materiality of concrete, while the pink represents sexiness, fruitiness and kink. |  |
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Dawn colors.
Materials and finishes
For the materials stories, there was no trend, beyond the “usual” developments in environmental approach: lots of salvaged and re-used materials, lots of evocation of natural form, now stylized and almost post-ironic. Which made it refreshing to see the few attempts at experimentation.
Matt finish at Fermob.
Mirror finish for this futuristic desk-cum- seating by Michael Yeung at the Halo stand.
Nido chair by imperfettolab at Il laboratorio dell’imperfetto. The iridescence is achieved by the interference effect of many layers of coatings.
The giant bowls are formed from 15 mm thin inner and outer shells hewn from alabaster and lit by LEDs from within. At the Atelier Alain Ellouz stand.
Lamp at Il laboratorio dell’imperfetto.
Used and re-used
Antique style at Tantdem.
Tekken by Magma at the Les Talents à la Carte exhibit on Japanese art and design.
Salvaged timber formed the basis of Timothy Oulton’s Salvage collection at the Halo stand.
Vintage velvet patchwork on Timothy Oulton’s Eastbourne sofa at the Halo stand - and the bright, retro pastels once again.
Stand decoration.
Animal chic … and hefty re-use, at Pop Corn.
Hyper-nature: Floral and plantlife
Floral chic at EGO Paris.
Overwhelming nature at Pierantonio Bonacina.
Bacsac’s flexible planters.
“being together, living together” by Kazuaki Takashima at the Les Talents à la Carte exhibit on Japanese art and design.
Eco solutions for green things …by ATELIER2CÈ at the ART TERRE – the “agency for ecodesign” – stand.