interiors

Paris Design Week is near. Part of the Maison & Objet design fair ecosystem, the 10-day roster of events will kick off Sept. 7 and close Sept. 16. With the theme centered around “cultivating optimism, hedonism and softness” an estimated 100,000 visitors are expected to flood the areas between Concorde, Le Marais and Rive Gauche, as well as the Parc des Expositions de Paris-Nord, to glimpse the latest trends and hottest international names in furnishings, interiors, decor, wellness, hospitality and even beauty.
Here, WWD highlights a few of the brands taking part in the fair:

Jonathan Adler

Related Articles

Jonathan Adler’s new Pompidou modular sectional.

Courtesy of Jonathan Adler

In addition to his new Sorrento pickleball set, a Renaissance beaded art collection and Mustique tic-tac-toe set, potter and designer Jonathan Adler will unveil his Pompidou modular sectional, the brand’s latest seating system. While pottery is the soul of the brand, Adler, together with his team, sculpts prototypes, builds full-scale models and scouts the world for luxe materials to complete the home with his signature upscale, eclectic flair.

Huages

Huages’ line of CBD products.

Courtesy of Huages

It’s time to take a chill pill…literally. In addition to their oils, Huages’ range was recently enhanced by Hôtel de Crillon’s pastry chef, who created a signature pastry using Huages CBD oil. Founded by three friends — one of whom, Hélène Aubier, worked for Estée Lauder — the brand saw its side hustle quickly flourish after its inception during the COVID-19 pandemic. The full range currently includes several oil blends that are specifically designed to be used in food. All of their products are made in France — the hemp oil comes from the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, while the plums and hazelnuts are harvested in Lot-et-Garonne. Huages, which is sold at Le Bon Marché, was recently contacted by Hôtel de Crillon to add the CBD brand to the spa treatment menu. Launched on May 16, the hotel’s holistic treatment is named Rêverie and includes a massage and sound bath and ends with a CBD-infused drink and pastry developed by the hotel’s pastry chef Matthieu Carlin.

Seletti

A skull form the Seletti Kintsugi line.

Courtesy of Seletti

Seletti will unveil its expanded Kintsugi line at Maison & Objet. The Japanese art, in which porcelain is repaired using gold, renders imperfect objects into works of art. Seletti and Marcantonio’s experimentation continues in the world of giftware, introducing a new skull and money box aptly called the Piggy Bank. For those with more of a pirate soul, the new skull intrigues with its golden cracks throughout its surface.

&Tradition

An &Tradition and Formakami lamp.

Courtesy of &Tradition

Danish design company &Tradition will unveil new designs by Spanish artist and designer Jaime Hayon, including a collection, Momento, which is an array of objects designed to aid its owners in savoring life’s simple pleasures. The firm will also unfurl the Formakami Limited Edition pendant lamp that blends Hayon’s contemporary artistic language and craftsmanship.  

Poltrona Frau

Poltrona Frau’s pet accessories within its new Beautilities collection.

Courtesy of Poltrona Frau

Sure to infuse festivities with a dose of levity, Poltrona Frau will introduce a new pet line within three new collections of accessories, which it named Beautilities. The company said it’s “an ideal combination of distinctive aesthetic and functionality, thought to complement different layers of well-beings.” The pet collection includes nine accessories, while its new Fitness collection is a line of essential worker equipment for the home gym made in collaboration with Italian brand Giobagnara. Lastly, the new Games collection is a series of board games also made in collaboration with Giobagnara.

Bitossi

Muller Van Severen for Bitossi Ceramiche.

Courtesy of Muller Van Severen

Bitossi Home, the Tuscan brand known for its jovial tableware and gift items, will enhance the table this season with a palette of soft colors, candle holders, trinket dishes and artisanal micro shelves. Drawing inspiration from Bitossi’s archive, the maison will also unfurl its ceramics collection by Muller Van Severen, Maison & Objet designer of the year. Design duo Fien Muller and Hannes Van Severen have crafted a family of vases that combine craftsmanship and visual artistry.

Ginori 1735

Courtesy of Ginori 1735

Ginori 1735’s LCDC Gold collection.

Historic Italian porcelain maker Ginori 1735’s latest is LCDC Gold, a special edition within the LCDC home fragrance collection. LCDC, which stands for La Compagnia Di Caterina, is an homage to Caterina de’ Medici infused with the contemporary vision of Venetian designer Luca Nichetto, with whom Ginori 1735 took a bold step into the world of furnishings with the Domus collection of coffee tables, lamps, chairs, poufs and accessories during Milan Design Week last April. Featuring candles in different sizes and colors, incense holders, and fragrance diffusers, the latest LCDC iteration is an olfactory journey through Catherine de’ Medici’s journey from Florence to Paris. 

Available in white-and-gold and black-and-gold color schemes, models like Il Letterato (the scholar), Il Seguace (the companion) and L’Amazzone (the amazon) are embellished with a golden brushstroke that illuminates the porcelain. They come in two new fragrances: White Jealousy and The Gold Crown.

L’Objet

An Edgar tray from L’Objet.

Courtesy of L’Objet

 L’Objet cut the ribbon on the brand’s first Paris flagship boutique this summer and will fete the opening during Paris Design Week. Situated at 30 Rue Jacob in the Saint-Germain-des-Prés neighborhood, the boutique will usher in a new era of “elegance and sophistication” for the brand, which was founded in Los Angeles in 2004 after a freshman collection of ceramics caught the eye of a buyer at Bergdorf Goodman. This season the brand will unfurl exclusive collections including Ripple, a line of frames, and Edgar, which includes handcrafted wood trays.

CyrylZ

The Holo Dune chair from CyrylZ.

Courtesy of CyrylZ

Polish sculptor and designer Cyryl Zakrzewski, who’s behind CyrylZ, is known for infusing his knowledge of 3D design and appreciation for nature into his pieces. He strives, he said, to create “unique biomorphic forms that are also fully functional furniture; his vision of the future becomes part of our everyday reality.” During Maison & Objet, he will present his Holo Dune chair, one of his most recognizable works. This unique functional yet sculptural object echoes the movement of shifting sand.

MILAN — In a lot of ways, design weeks from Milan to New York are starting to look a lot like fashion week.
The influencers stand out, dressed to the hilt, and the photographers are waiting to capture them sipping on an espresso with a Kartell chair in the background, or catching an old tram outside of an installation. In Copenhagen, social celebs aren’t looking for any clicks or likes — they are interwoven among the crowd, soaking up the sun, riding their bikes around the harbor, dressed on the DL and emitting Hygge vibes the Scandy way. 

At the same time, the broader design industry — including interiors and home — is still trying to figure out what sort of influencers make their sofas and tableware appear cool to a global public. 

Related Articles

According to data insights firm Launchmetrics, American firms are ahead of the game and already have accrued some serious media impact value. Crate & Barrel’s collaboration with interior designer and founder of @eyeswoon, Athena Calderone, has garnered a total MIV of $2.4 million since the middle of September. About 39 percent of the total amount (or $939,000) comes directly from Athena’s IGaccount, which only has about 10,000 followers. The brand’s Owned Voice has garnered $476,000 in MIV from placements mentioning the partnership.

Ruggable, famous for its easy wash and dry floor coverings, generated $1.1 million in MIV through its collaboration with Iris Apfel for a colorful design-forward collection that mirrors the fashion icon’s taste. Apfel herself was responsible for 30 percent of the total amount generated. 

The partnership with Apfel was rooted in their collaboration, not necessarily because her image generates buzz, Ruggable’s founder Jeneva Bell told WWD. 

“I have personally admired Iris. Her incredible career has enabled her to become a global icon in design and fashion. She also represents and encourages others to truly show off their own personal style and break the boundaries, something we always want to inspire at Ruggable,” Bell said. 

In Italy, public relations firm founder Luisa Bertoldo ditched the office space, and saw her brand relationships evolve in a natural way, while she focused on her own talents, which resulted in her lifestyle brand Bagni Luisa, her ceramics line Esperia and, yes, also influencing.

“When I had my PR firm, I started experimenting with social media on the side. Posting the products on my own Instagram and saw that those numbers were much higher than when the firm posted them,” she said while sipping tea at the bohemian chic home she shares with her partner, actor Francesco Mandelli, and daughter Giovanna.

A Corinthian column separates her modular kitchen by Very Simple Kitchen with a modern dark wood set of cabinets she had made bespoke by a local carpenter. Together, the family interacts with the products, making Montecristo sandwiches on their marble counter, with their Smeg appliances to Supergrass’ “Alright” and wearing Hawaiian spooners, with natural nonchalance.

Bertoldo knows how to make appliances and decor look appealing by homing in on the pleasures of daily life. She achieves this same message by smoothing Avene creams across her makeup-less face and completing art projects with her daughter.

Luisa Bertoldo in the kitchen with her partner, actor Francesco Mandelli and daughter Giovanna.

Courtesy of Luisa Bertoldo

Not all leading firms are concerned with turning “likes” into euros, however. A few leading lighting and furniture companies contacted said they actually don’t have an influencer strategy yet but are working on one. “We prefer not to comment on this subject right now, just because we are currently working to finalize our definitive strategy with proper guidelines worldwide,” was the answer. 

Albeit late in the game compared to its fashion peers, the furnishings and lighting industry is only now rising to the the digital occasion and selling its goods online. For some companies, the faces tapped to represent the brand via social media channels not only have to have exquisite taste and an enviable lifestyle, but they also need to possess their own set of talents.

“[Influencers] must have a lifestyle which resonates with our followers’ interests. An international and possibly well-traveled life (occasionally touching base at luxury hotels supplied by Frette) a discerning taste for timeless, investment pieces and great attention to quality, design and craftsmanship,” Frette said in an emailed statement.

Frette, founded in Brianza, Italy, in 1860, unfurled a capsule collection of 100 percent organic cotton sheets, utilizing a chemical-free dyeing process that employs dried poppy petals, in April during Design Week and turned to artist and influencer Jenny Walton, whose retro chic allure has led to paid partnership deals with Net-a-porter and Tory Burch.

Frette sustainable linens debuted during Milan’s Design Week. The new sustainable campaign features artist and influencer Jenny Walton.

Frette Courtesy Photo

Fashion week regular Paolo Stella started to cross the Rubicon between design and fashion during COVID-19. He had the epiphany during lockdown one morning just after dawn, he explained, sitting in his “bow-window” armchair designed by Gaetano Pesce, sipping on his coffee while listening to classical music. While Stella’s flair for storytelling is hard to ignore, so is his business sense. 

“The percentage concerns the quantity of influencers involved in this sector. The answer is, very few. So I can take much larger market slices than those of fashion, a sector in which thousands of competitors work.”

Today, Stella works with some of the finest names in Italian furnishing: De Padova, Boffi, B&B Italia and Cassina. 

The relentless fashion schedule, he explained, is also taking its toll. “Design is more human in terms of time and does not run like fashion between seasons where you have cruise collections and new collections that come out practically every week. You can still enjoy the weather,” he reflected, noting that he often finds himself enthusing over designs that were developed up to 70 years ago.

Still, he hopes to break the mold when it comes to the influencer-brand business model and go beyond posts for pay. “I hope with the quality of my projects, getting out of that demeaning dynamic that leads to the basic axiom ‘you give me an object and I’ll write you a post.’ In my case, the project always tells a story, a brand, a great architect.”

Paolo Stella sits on the “bow-window” armchair designed by Gaetano Pesce.

Courtesy of Paolo Stella

In and around Copenhagen, the northern pulse of the design world, Danish firms have their own views about how they should interact with social media. 

Louis Poulsen made headlines by collaborating with fashion models turned glass artists Breanna Box and Peter Dupont of Home in Heven. The result was an unexpected capsule of naughty and nice lamps with horns and tentacles. It was a subtle, but direct link to fashion and the buzz the industry has the potential to create for one of the best-known and most traditional lighting firms in the world through craft and working collaborations.

At the Audo, the home of Audo Copenhagen, the newly formed brand combining By Lassen and Menu, renowned American interior stylist Colin King has designed an installation with New York-based Field Studies Flora design studio founder Alex Crowder. King has a talent and acumen for design, working with his hands, but also has the secret sauce when it comes to building a fan base. 

Colin King and Alex Crowder before their “Fence” project that debuted at the Audo during 3daysofdesign.

“We did a collaboration with Colin King and centered it around art pieces that he found. They [accessories] are reasonable to buy into as well,” said Audo Copenhagen design and brand director Joachim Kornbek Engell-Hansen. Engell-Hansen explained the aim is to reach consumers with a universe and a broad range of products on social media, particularly Instagram.

For other brands, authenticity is key. Trine Andersen, founder of Ferm Living, said the company is quite selective about who it works with. “Whether it’s an artist or designer for a product collaboration or an influencer or ambassador to communicate the brand, we look for people we find inspiring, who are authentic and creative, and who want to have a dialogue about what home means to them,” she said.

According to Andersen, sometimes less is more in the world of home and interiors. It’s more about welcoming customers by conjuring a sense of comfort and well-being rather than creating a buzz around the product.

“Our biggest ambition is, and always has been, to inspire people to create the kind of space that makes them feel comfortable and allows them to be themselves in their own home, and it is of great importance to us that we share that vision with the people we work with.”