Best Collections, Debut Paris Design Week

PARIS — As the spotlight turned to solution-seeking designs for a plagued global environment and preserving craft on the verge of extinction, the Paris Design Week and Maison & Objet design fair ecosystem welcomed an international roster of brands and thought-provoking new collections. The 10-day calendar of events kicked off Sept. 5 and will close here Saturday, under the aegis of an overarching theme Terra Cosmos.

Belgian interior architect, decorator and artist Lionel Jadot, Maison&Objet Designer of the Year, and the team of designers and visionaries involved in his Zaventem Ateliers collective created an installation dedicated to zero-waste hospitality solutions; their work setting the tone in and around Paris. Emerging names and new collaborations were unveiled in and around the French capital.

Wendy Andreu at India Mahdavi

India Mahdavi staged several presentations in the predominantly residential area around her historic showroom on Rue Las Cases on the Left Bank, including an annex she has repurposed as a showcase for emerging designers.

Christened Tiny Room, its inaugural exhibition is “Jardin Mécanique,” featuring a series of vases produced by Paris-based designer Wendy Andreu during a residency at the International Glass and Visual Arts Research Centre, or Cirva. “It’s very important to build a community, and I think it’s interesting to have these conversations between designers,” Mahdavi explained.

Likewise, the nearby Project Room features a rotating cast of guest exhibitors, including galleries from as far afield as Greece and Mexico. 

For the Summer Olympics, she invited interior architect and furniture designer Harry Nuriev to create a futuristic ping pong table, while for Paris Design Week, she showcased her collaboration with Italian rug-maker Cc-tapis. Titled “Criss Cross,” the rugs feature a tartan-inspired motif rendered through a combination of chain-stitching and hand-tufting. 

Meanwhile, her Petits Objets store down the street hosted La Romaine Editions, a young French editor of home objects, many with a nautical theme. 

“Paris Design Week is not as important as Milan, but I really love that the city suddenly starts living with the tempo of design, and so I think that’s why I’m participating, because it’s exciting to have this moment of everybody showing what they’ve been doing,” Mahdavi said. 

“For me, it’s about also the experience. It’s not only designing a product, it’s how you live with the product, how you bring people together,” she added. “That’s the capacity that we can have as interior designers: to bring life to spaces.”

Serax Collaboration With Uncharted

At Maison&Objet, Belgian brand Serax debuted a roster of collaborations, including candles with longtime collaborator Vincent Van Duysen and Bela Silva and a lighting collection by Marie Michielssen.

Elsewhere, a collective called Uncharted formed by creative director Stéphanie Cohen, restaurateur and entrepreneur Julien Cohen and Paris-based designer Raphaël Navot, presented “Out of Lines.” Born from the practical need for the right functional collection for a hospitality project, the design collective’s first collection combines organic shapes with earthy hues such as off-white, deep black and vibrant ochre.

Inspired by the ovals found in nature, such as an olive, a lemon or a plum, the collection has more than 30 different shapes that blend seamlessly. Made with stoneware and wood, they employed high firing techniques to enhance the durability and stackability of each piece.

Sybille de Tavernost 

Rug and home decor designer Sibylle de Tavernost unveiled an homage to French painter and sculptor Fernand Léger with four exclusive pieces drawn from her repertoire.

For this first opus, de Tavernost was invited by heirs to Léger’s work to delve into his monumental archives and browse through collections of drawings, paintings and books about the trailblazer of modern art, whose work spanned the first half of the 20th century.

After many months of discussions, four works of art, a mix of must-have paintings and favorite references, were chosen.

His “Les plongeurs” from 1943, “Éléments sur fond bleu” from 1949, “Les femmes au perroquet” from 1951 and “Le Cheval sur fond jaune” from 1953 were brought back to life from her looms, weaving ancestral skills from North India.

Prix du Design de l’Institut du Monde Arabe

The Institut du Monde Arabe Design Award was created in 2023 to highlight emerging and established designers from the Arab world. During Design Week, they launched their first award dedicated to the creativity emanating from the Arab world under the theme Arabo Future, for which the work of 10 confirmed nominees was displayed.

Aziza Chaouni

Winner of the Impact category was Aziza Chaouni Project, a multidisciplinary design firm based in Fez, Morocco, and founded by Aziza Chaouni, which specializes in sustainable architecture, landscape, urban design and construction. Driven by the devastating 2023 earthquake that killed 3,500 people in the country, the firm presented a prototype anti-seismic earth-block house for the Haouz region to address the needs of the local community and their budget.

Abdel el Tayeb

Abdel el Tayeb, winner of the Talent prize, is a French Sudanese designer hailing from Bordeaux and founder of the brand El Tayeb Nation. Based in Brussels, he garnered experience in the fashion world as an assistant of the shoe designer Charlotte Sauvat for Isabel Marant and Balmain, Cédric Charlier and Maison Margiela Artisanal.

He also worked on embroidery and lace at the haute couture house Franck Sorbier and studied product development at Ann Demeulemeester in Antwerp. In November 2021, Naomi Campbell awarded him the Debut Talent prize at the Fashion Trust Arabia awards in Doha, affording him the opportunity to launch a made-to-measure line offering custom pieces based on Arabic Sudanese craftsmanship.

His textile creations preserve Sudanese ancestral craftsmanship with techniques he learned from his grandmothers. The country has a rich history of textiles and clothing dating back to antiquity. Basketry consists of weaving dry palm leaves in a certain way, which can then be dyed. Abdel’s brand attempts to reuse this technique, traditionally used for decoration, as an embellishment for hats, shoes and sculptural bags.

Zineb Kertane

Winner of the Emerging Talent prize is Algerian designer Zineb Kertane, who showcased a tiny stool made by Algerian artisans of olive wood from the Kabylia area. Formerly used during shower time or in the hammam, the bonk, as it is known, has gradually disappeared over the years.

Yves Salomon x Chapo Creation collection

For Paris Design Week, fur and ready-to-wear designer Yves Salomon opened the doors of his Paris showroom to reveal his furniture collection and its collaboration with Chapo Creation, a fellow French legacy company.

This new furniture project, distinguished for its upcycled shearling and intarsia and French woodworking, originally debuted in Milan during design week. This season, marked the first time they presented pillows in plaid, which are expected to become a permanent facet of the Yves Salomon home collection.