The Return of Maison&Objet
Mineral Dreams by Claire Frechet, ceramicist, exhibiting at this year's fair in Paris (image: courtesy of Maison&Objet).
Earlier this summer, the organisers of Maison&Objet – Paris’ biannual interior design fair – faced the best sort of surprise when the French government announced a relaxation of rules around large trade events. This September, following two cancelled editions and a 20-month hiatus, Maison&Objet will return.
Maison&Objet is amongst Europe’s largest design fairs. It was established in 1995 when it aggregated a series of pre-existing design and interior events into a single show. “We wanted to be much clearer for exhibitors and visitors,” explains Philippe Brocart, the fair’s managing director, “so that people know that it’s one fair, one organisation, one brand.” In the intervening years the fair has expanded to include awards, conferences and forums. Held at the vast Parc des Expositions de Villepinte in Paris’s northern suburbs, since 2011 it has been accompanied by Paris Design Week in the city centre.
Organising a fair during the pandemic has been challenging. “The preparation has been very short,” explains Brocart, “because we only had the green light to organise in mid-May. So it’s been very, very busy – and the situation is quite complicated because of the changing news.” Travel restrictions have barred visitors from certain regions, necessitating a more Europe-orientated programme than the globe-spanning focus of recent editions. “It’s not going to be like before,” Brocart continues. “We’ll have fewer exhibitors than usual, and we’ll have less space.” Although with 1,300 exhibitors over six halls, it will still be capacious. Paris Design Week, which runs concurrent to the fair, will feature 10 conferences and a record 250 participants.
“The idea of a Netflix for trade came onto the table.”
To make the fair possible under present conditions, Brocart and his team have introduced stringent health and safety regulations to offer visitors peace of mind. Visitors to the fair will need a European health pass, which can be obtained by providing a vaccination certificate issued by a healthcare professional with authorisation to vaccinate; a certified negative RT-PCR test that is less than 48 hours old; or a certificate of recovery from COVID-19. In uncertain times, these measures provide a sense of reassurance and security for all attending Maison&Objet.
CIDER Edition, a Parisian furnishing manufacturer, will be exhibiting as part of this year's Maison&Objet and more (image: courtesy of Maison&Objet)).
But the return of the physical fair is not this September’s only surprise. It will also see the unveiling of Maison&Objet Academy: a new digital subscription service that aims to help design professionals improve their business acumen and knowledge of emerging trends. It a programme born from the disruption of the past year and a half.
“Over this period, we have organised a digital design fair and digital days,” Brocart recounts, “with a lot of talks and conferences. We made a podcast. And we started to produce content not only with Zoom and Teams, but also with professional people.” After receiving positive feedback from retailers and designers, the Maison&Objet team started to wonder whether they could expand these ideas. “And then,” says Brocart, “the idea of a Netflix for trade came onto the table.”
Maison&Objet Academy chimes with an ongoing shift among trade fairs. Where they were once discrete punctuation marks in the calendar, fleeting moments of gathering, they can now maintain a continuous digital presence. “People want to have access to information when they need information,” explains Brocart. “Every fair organiser is always thinking about what they can do between fairs, and how to keep up their relationship with exhibitors and visitors throughout the year.” The Parisian fair began this process in 2016 with Maison&Objet and more (Mom), an online platform for product sourcing. “If you are a retailer and you are looking for brands,” explains Brocart, “you can go on Mom, browse products and enter into contact with the brand.”
Black mango wood boards by Be Home, a home and lifestyle products brand based in California and Belgium (image: courtesy of Maison&Objet).
Maison&Objet Academy will target independent retailers and interior designers: “The ones”, says Brocart, “who do not have the access to training or information through working in a larger company.” It will launch with around 50 videos, with a steady stream of new content added each month. The initial offering will cover a wide berth. Some will explain the intricacies of running a design business, while offers will introduce users to innovative new brands, projects and materials. There will be masterclasses by famous architects and designers, and lessons from professional teachers.
The Academy’s digital format and educational impetus may seem a world away from the hustle and bustle of a fair itself, but there is a connecting thread: both foster communication between different parts of the design community, from the most established to those seeking a larger platform. In this, they may naturally complement one another. Brocart certainly thinks so: “We’ve very happy with this project,” he says, “and excited to go live. And then we will see!”
Words Joe Lloyd.
This article was made for Maison&Objet.