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| Hay at Maison & Objet, January 2012 |
This season, Maison & Objet is buzzing with energy, creativity and optimism. Currently open in Paris until January 24, the show is awash with bright colours, industrial craft, and new collections.
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| Hay at Maison & Objet, January 2012 |
Hay, the Danish husband/wife design duo who launched their brand 8 years ago, are in full form, with 70 new decorative accessories and a new range of paper goods. Their savvy use of colour and material is across-the-board inspiring. Founder Rolf Hay told HBL, "Instead of buying in accessories, it made sense to us to develop them ourselves. We are not conceptual: if we do something it just has to be a good idea."
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| Hay at Maison & Objet, January 2012 |
Decorative accessories and paper goods are definitely a way for brands to branch out in a recession. Tom Dixon had the same idea in launching his decorative accessories brand, Eclectic, which had a typically English mix of design savvy with a twist of good humour.
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| Eclectic at Maison & Objet, January 2012 |
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| Eclectic at Maison & Objet, January 2012 |
Objekten, a young Belgian brand also launching this season, started off with a bang by editing Matthieu Lehanneur’s Strates desk, which was previously just an idealistic prototype. Made simply of plywood, the desk and its accompanying side table seem to be in levitation. And one of the most amazing elements is the price, which comes in at just over 1200 euros.
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| Objekten at Maison & Objet, January 2012 |
Beyond the exciting young brands, Homebuildlife reveals a few eye-catching trends that will be outlined, among others, in our upcoming full report on Maison & Objet.
MIRROR FINISH
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| Monsterra at Maison & Objet, January 2012 |
From Czech glass planters by Monsterra suspented in mid-air, to Japanese wine glasses by Ken Okuyama with a metal exterior and glass interior, to English bowls by Nick Munro, mirror finishes are one of the fascinating finds of this Maison & Objet.
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| Ken Okuyama at Maison & Objet, January 2012 |
Tinted and coloured mirror finishes confirm the growing creativity in the industry, as outlined in our previous Mirror report here.
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| Nick Munro at Maison & Objet, January 2012 |
IDIOMATIC
Our macro trend for spring/summer 2013 is already present this season in rug designs inspired by local crafts. Steven Burks developed an amazing basket weave rug inspired by African crafts for Chevalier Edition.
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| Steven Burks at Maison & Objet, January 2012 |
And the talented young Charlotte Lancelot designed the hand-stitched Canevas collection for GAN, inspired by ancient tapestries, taking the worn, recoloured rug trend into an entirely new domain.
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| GAN at Maison & Objet, January 2012 |
WONDERWOOD
As an update to our Wood 5.0 and our Wood: Interiors inspiration reports HBL discovered the supple wood collection by Takumi Shimamura.
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| Takumi Shimamura at Maison & Objet, January 2012 |
The woven wood, upholstered wood, and the thinnest wooden bags, placemats (and business cards) show yet again that wood is one of the most versatile materials around.
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| Takumi Shimamura at Maison & Objet, January 2012 |
This is only just the beginning: stay tuned to the WGSN-homebuildlife site to get your full report on Maison & Objet.