Paris Design Week in Review

Fashion boutiques, galleries, and concept stores created a dialogue between fashion and interior design, between the historical and the contemporary, between aesthetics and function, broadening our perspective and arousing our taste for beautiful things. This all took place this past week during the Paris Design Week of 2017.

La Rotonde de Stalingrad, a 1907 historical monument originally used as a customs office, was transformed into Le Grand Marché de Stalingrad, a catchall marketplace entirely dedicated to design. Open since September, it houses La Galerie, which shows a different artist every month, and La Curieuse Boutique, a concept store with four distinct areas: Transformation (wellness, fashion, design, art), Connection (technology), Evolution (gastronomy) and Meditation (home, gardening, sleep and spiritual awakening). Dedicated to socially responsible products, the concept store housed the collective Made in France en Transparence during Paris Design Week.

Established in 2014, the group formed spontaneously bringing together designers committed to social and environmental issues; 100% of their furniture, accessories, tableware and lights are produced in France. To tackle the challenge of accessible design, and avoid being limited to an elite audience, the collective launched Front de Design with the support of ambassador Sakina M’Sa: direct selling, with no intermediaries, in a fun and responsible atmosphere. The French light brand Octavio Amado exhibited at Le Grand Marché Stalingrad, presenting a new concept for 3D-printed chandeliers, which can be made to specific measurements, scalable to interiors of proportions ranging from minuscule to monumental. Just a few streets away, on Esplanade Nathalie-Sarraute – a new urban hub with a hostel, a modern library, several restaurants, a performance hall and a covered garden –, visitors could find the new showroom of Boutique for Tomorrow, which carries furniture and a wide range of books focusing on design, architecture and dining.

At La Maison des Canaux (on the banks of the Seine), Les Ateliers de Paris, the Paris Création Fund and the charity Petits Frères des Pauvres also held a workshop on reusing objects that were donated to the organisation. Developed and led by Unqui Designers, in partnership with collaborative factory TechShop, the programme included three sessions for professionals, an open day for the public and an afternoon to sell the products made during the workshops. The excitement and buzz of Paris Design Week continues to inspire, from the city of light to the rest of the world!

For more info visit Maison & Objet.