Highlights From Maison & Objet 2022

Sensory experience, color and sustainability were themes at the fair, which also honored Dutch and French talent

Agnès Carpentier September 30, 2022

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The Maison & Objet fair, held twice a year in Paris, has been a meeting place for professionals in lifestyle, interior decoration and design from around the world since 1995. The September 2022 show brought together more than 2,000 brands and nearly 60,000 visitors, a third of whom came from abroad. The Houzz France editorial team was on site at Paris-Nord Villepinte exhibition park to bring you the biggest trends coming your way.

The exhibition floor at the September Maison & Objet fair. Photo by Aethion

Joyful Gathering

If 2020 was the standby year, 2021 was the year of resilience and 2022 sounded a rebirth, now we anxiously await a return to normal life in 2023. The September 2022 Maison & Objet therefore sought to be joyous and relaxing, and to recapture some of the sense of lightness we’re all seeking — most of all, through joyous color.

Despite the approaching winter, the booths were resplendent with pastel and vernal colors — dusty rose, jade and orange-y yellow. There was also color blocking with bold colors — reds and vibrant pinks at the forefront alongside aubergine and deep blues. Timeless palettes of ecru to twine and gray to black were mixed with both.

Color Trends for 2023 at Maison & Objet

Maison&Objet : Les temps forts de l'édition septembre 2022

Reminisens, an introspective and multisensory voyage imagined by Atelier Anthem for the September Maison & Objet

Meta Sensible

This show nonetheless also explored weightier questions like how digitalization is pushing creation to reinvent itself and take new paths, maybe even leading to, perhaps, the metaverse?

This fed the imagination of trend forecaster Vincent Grégoire, director of consumer trends & insights at NellyRodi, a strategy and business consultant firm. He coined the phrase Meta Sensible to sum up this fair.

“Today, the consumer adopts oxymoronic postures that reflect our world of paradoxes,” Grégoire said during his seminar at the fair. “On the one hand, the consumer is on a quest for anchoring, which expresses itself especially in the reconnection to nature through slowness, or an affinity for craft work and unique pieces. This basic tendency is not new but, on the other hand — and this is where the novelty lies — develops a hypersensibility that I call ‘meta sensibility,’ a world in which everything accelerates thanks to digital-native players who are exploring the possibilities of cyber creativity.”

Find out how the Houzz Pro 3D Floor Planner and Mood Boards can help you share your designs with clients

OttO 97.5 for Noma Editions. The tableware contains 97.5% recycled ceramics. It was designed by Jean-Marc Gady Studio.

Upcycling Was on Everyone’s Lips

Another question that was uppermost at the fair was of the world’s climate future, which pushes us to reinvent our manner of consuming — and pushes brands to find new ways of creating. If there is one term to take away from this edition, it is “upcycling,” where recycling transforms waste into new raw materials. Solid wood remnants become panels, for example. Upcycling adds value to discarded things to turn them into desired objects.

This is the route taken by the brand Noma, a frontrunner in materials. “We buy a product most of all because it is pleasing. This is why we decided to see waste as “noble material” —hence, Noma — and propose sustainable products that incorporate it, created by designers like Charlotte Juillard, A+A Cooren, Sam Baron,” says architect and founder Bruce Ribay.

Exotic Palace by Cristina Celestino at the September Maison & Objet

Designer of the Year

Of course, we also kept our eyes peeled for the highlights of the fair and the directions taken by thought leaders of the interior decor universe.

There was the Exotic Palace by architect Cristina Celestino, who was selected as designer of the year by the fair’s jury, to follow Franklin Azzi. Celestino, 42, is illustrious in the interior design, luxury hotel and retail worlds and is one of the leading figures of Italian design.

“The project I created for Maison & Objet was born of a desire for temporary immersion in another reality, where exotic beauty, the love of decor, passion for colors and an irrepressible urge to create scenes in line with nature meet,” Celestino said in a press release from the fair.

In her exhibit, she referenced numerous cultures to create a space dedicated to meeting and restoration. At her seminar at the fair, Celestino said she took inspiration from gardens and nature, as well as architecture, both well-known and anonymous works.

10 Decor Trends From Maison & Objet 2022

Steven Visser was born in Groningen, Netherlands, in 1985 and graduated from the ArtEZ University of the Arts in Arnhem, Netherlands.

The Emergence of Dutch Design

At each session of Maison & Objet, the Rising Talent Awards recognize six designers from abroad. This year, the jury focused on the forefront of Dutch design. Among them we saw the works of Visser & Meijwaard, whose work includes furniture, lighting, textile, ceramics and glass, and who have collaborated with brands across sectors, including Hermès, Moooi Carpets.

Sanne Terweij, born in Amsterdam in 1984, studied jewelry and color consulting. Today she works as a craftswoman.

The prize has also evolved with the introduction of the Rising Talent Craft Awards, which rewards artisanal work and distinguished a seventh Dutch designer, Sanne Terweij. In her atelier in Zaandam in the north of Amsterdam, she creates mural sculptures made of hundreds of little rectangular metal tiles, individually processed in various colors. “Color has a mystical aspect. I am fascinated by its impact on our mood and our emotions,” Terweij says.

Talents So French at the September Maison&Objet.

French Design Talent

A special corner, titled Talents So French, showcased the revival of French design. Four big names in design — Samuel Accoceberry, Bina Baitel, Charlotte Juillard and Pierre Gonalons — exhibited their products and shared their creative process and their collaborations with brands. Highlights were the Murano glass lamps by Pierre Gonalons, in the booth at left, and the burned-wood furniture collection by Charlotte Juillard, right.

Future on Stage at the September Maison&Objet

Future on Stage

We also discovered Maison & Objet’s new springboard for notable new brands in decor, design and lifestyle. The three first laureates showcased at the fair were:

Pierreplume: French manufacturer of acoustic materials for architecture and design, made out of recycled textiles
Aluvy: French manufacturer of a sustainable aluminum barbecues
LucyBalu: German creator of design furniture for cats

Color Power by trend forecaster Elizabeth Leriche in the What’s New space at the September Maison & Objet

Color Power

Proof that the fair truly embraced joy, the What’s New spaces put together by trend forecasters to help us decipher the trends of the moment were overflowing with colors, dreams and good intentions.

In an exhibit called Utopia Now, François Delclaux proposed an exhibit of simple objects that transported us to the world of dreams.

François Bernard set out to restore our purchasing power with a selection of decor gift ideas for less than $160, installed in grand, colorful displays entitled Kaleidoscope.

And Elizabeth Leriche dazzled us with her Color Power exhibit. In response to successive crises and as an antidote to ambient moroseness, she translated our intimate desire to create cocoons of life, peace and love with radiant color.

Taking her cue, we wish you a colorful year of decor!

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