PARIS: Maison et Objet - Art - Design - Food - Restaurants - Fashion - People... and more

Paris: Maison et Objet - Part # 1. The Maison et Objet trade fair is the largest and most beautiful international event for the home, bringing together emblematic brands in interior decoration, upholstery fabrics, design, rare pieces, perfected materials and cultural objects.  And for the fourth season, Paris des Chefs, where under the sponsorship of multi-starred chef Alain Ducasse the event celebrates the exceptional explosive alliance of cooking and design.

Maison et Objet: Deisgner of the Year – Fernando and Humberto Campana.  The Brazilian Campana brothers where awarded Designers of the Year alongside Hubert Le Gall and Tokujin Yoshioka. The creative duo developed their eco-design sensibility during their craftsman-centric childhoods growing up in brotras, And, for their installation at Maison et Objet they created a plantation of organic trees made out of corrugated cardboard which seemed to spill from the ceiling, as where the gigantic green lights.

 portrait by Fernando Laszlo courtesy Maison et Objet

 Fernando and Humberto Campana

photograph courtesy Musee d"Orsay

Musee d’Orsay: Fernando and Humberto Campana. The Musee d”Orsay asked the Campana brothers to reinvent the newly re-opened famous Café de l’Horologe.  The décor was inspired by the travels of Captain Nemo in 20,000 Leagues under the Sea.  “Our work has always been broad-based and interior design allows us to bring together all the aspects of our design work.” Explains Humberto.

 photograph courtesy Maison et Objet

  Maison et Objet: Tokujin Yoshioka, Now! Design a Vivre 2012 Deisgner of the Year.  Tokujin Yoshioka was the Designer of the year for the Now! Deisgn a Vivre 2012 space.  Yoshioka’s works transcend the boundaries of product design, architecture, and exhibition installation and are highly evaluated also as art. At Maison et Objet the "Crystallized Project" explores the mutual dependency that exists between human's memories and nature and he uses it as a creative inspiration, which tries to create a new "portrait" of nature that shakes up the imagination of the person who views it. In the exhibition Tokujin Yoshioka presents new works, the crystallized painting series grown by the vibration of music by Frederic Chopin, the crystallized chair, Venus Natural Crystal Chair and the crystallized painting in the aquariums.

 photograph courtesy Maison et Objet

Tokujin Yoshioka

 photograph Sophie Boegly courtesy Musee d”Orsay

Musee d’Orsay – Galerie des Impressionistes.   Tokujin Yoshioka’s Banc Water Block, a representative work of optical glass projects started since 2002, is permanently exhibited in Musee d'Orsay.

 photograph Takuya Suzuki courtesy Maison et Objet

Maison et Objet: Tokujin Yoshioka, Now! Design a Vivre 2012 Deisgner of the Year.    Tokujin Yoshioka’s Banc Water Block.

 Seen at Maison et Objet, design gallery owner Luisa delle Piane.

Maison et Objet – Eclectic by Tom Dixon.  Eclectic by Tom Dixon is a new accessories brand launching exclusively at Maison et Objet.  The first collection of everyday home accessories, giftware and design objects comes after ten years dedicated to creating lighting and furniture design. Using honest and resilient materials traditional to the British designer, including copper, marble, cast iron and wood.  These products are made to be used or played with, to be treasured or given.

Above. Bash Vessel, a brass vessel shaped by hand into an expressive crumpled form and finished with gold wash.

Eclectic by Tom Dixon. Generously proportioned  Stone Pestle and Mortar carved from a solid piece of Morward marble.

Eclectic by Tom Dixon. Chop, three, rectangle, long and paddle shaped chopping boards milled from solid oak with soft curved edge detail.

 

Maison et Objet – Saint Louis.  Charles-Henri Leroy is Saint Louis’s commercial and communications director.   Saint Louis is the oldest manufacturer of glassmaking in Europe. In 1767 Louis XV gave the company the prestigious name of Verrerie Royale de Saint-Louis and later, the formula for producing crystal was discovered.  Today thanks to advances authorized by chemical and mechanical processes, Saint-Louis has introduced the most innovative techniques in coloring the crystal, hot shaping, cold cut, the most sophisticated patterns engraving and gold ornament.

Above: Behind Charles-Henri Leroy is the Potiche vase designed by Laurence Brabant.

Maison et Objet – Saint Louis.  Four of the six bulb vases in the Corollaire collection by Jose Levy. They are made of colored or clear crystal and each colored model is released in a limited collection of twenty-nine items. With Saint-Louis, for whom he has already designed the Endiablés collection, José Lévy decided to pick up the idea of flower vases, “A vase for violets or carnations: what really drew me in was the idea of pushing function to the extreme and being dictated by the very nature of the flowers themselves to create a complex decorative effect. Here, the content dictates the container, a basic notion in design that takes on a whole new dimension in the world of decorative arts and in the tradition of crystal.”  He explains. The result is a direct corollary: six vases that form a group of strange solos, requiring new color work with innovative overlay techniques. “Like crystal characters, these pure yet abstract narratives reflect both the memories of tradition and the unavoidable challenges of modernity.” Levy concludes.

Maison et Objet – Saint Louis.  The Theoreme collection designed by Laurence Brabant. As Tea is the second most widely drunk beverage on the planet after water, it is infused with an important ritual value. Saint-Louis has already released other tea tumblers imbued with Middle-Eastern influence. With Théorème, a family collection of offbeat, unusual tea glasses Saint-Louis is making a dramatic re-entrance on the tea scene with the firm intention of reinventing teatime. The clear crystal tumblers are designed for urban everyday living, their brilliant transparency makes them the perfect stage for floral decoctions, red-fruit infusions or exotic- spice brews.  The tumblers in blue crystal are perfect for summer, between the light of the sea and the sky, these holiday glasses evoke lazy days. Their apothecary blue adds a hint of mystery to the beverages they will contain.  And last but not least, the in dark green crystal tumblers are Middle Eastern and languid by nature, the obvious choice for serving mint tea, these subtly exotic glasses both contain and give off the scent of tempting, spicy, floral and smooth brews.

Maison et Objet – Saint Louis. Jasmin tea in Laurence Brabant white tumbler with gold rim from the Theoreme collection for Saint Louis. Naturally she is a great tea-drinker, after an initial morning coffee, her day is punctuated with intimate moments stolen away to enjoy a green tea, black tea, or spicy evening infusion. She holds her cups with both hands “That way, they are occupied and don’t need to do anything else”. She explains that this almost ceremonial gesture helps her to “feel, taste and smell the liquid and soak up all its scents”.

Maison et Objet – John Derian. John Derian is one of the few American designers showing at Maison et Objet.  The talented designer started his career scouting markets for old prints, books, handwritten manuscripts and deeds. These he cuts up, tints and mixes the images and the calligraphy, creating beautiful decoupages on the back of plates, bowls and paperweights and more.  The handmade decorative items are sold at the John Derian Company stores on the charming Second Street in the East Village, as well as at his seasonal boutique in Provincetown, Massachusetts. The busy and talented Mr. Derian also designed an environment-conscious furniture line with Cisco and created two signature accessories lines for Target, as well as a stationary collection based on decoupage and a collection of ceramic tableware for  the French company Astier de Villatte, see below.

Above.   John Derian is photographed next to his Skeleton wall hanging.

 

Maison et Objet - John Derian.   The new decoupage Bug plates.  Decoupage is the art of cutting and pasting paper images, which has its roots in the ancient tomb art of Siberia and became a fashionable pursuit across Europe in the 18th century. A small staff of artists assist John Derian with production and all his decoupages are made by hand right on the Lower East side of Manhattan. The handmade decorative items can also be found in many high-end boutiques and department stores around the world and his own “shop within a shop” on the Home floor at Bergdorf Goodman.

Maison et Objet – Astier de Villatte. The John Derian designed tableware for Astier de Villatte is called Marbre, the mug has the marbling pattern on the inside of Astier de Villatte’s traditional white  glazed ceramics finish.

 

Maison et Objet – Astier de Villatte. The  new trompe-l’oeil Wall-Vase plate.

Maison et Objet – Astier de Villatte. The Astier de Villatte’s high-end vegetable wax Scented Candles. Exclusive, natural and pure, these candles exude a delicious aroma whether unlit or burning.  They do not contain paraffin or other petrochemical by-products. Their delicate and evenly burning texture is due to a judicious mixture of soy oil, two secret plant ingredients and tiny bit of beeswax, perfectly miscible with the fragrance.  They have braided cotton wicks, they burn slowly and perfectly for about sixty hours and are biodegradable and environmentally sound.

Quebec. An age-old perfume emanates from the steep lanes of Old Quebec bordered by country homes and secret gardens. Rustic scents of forage plants, the divine aroma of sweet grass, the Amerindian incense, sacred aromatic herb that attracts positive energy and wards off evil spirits.

Broadway. Neon letters on theater billboards flicker everywhere, while below the hustle and bustle of the crowd. Energy is at its peak. A curious effervescent aroma, inspired by the secret formula of the legendary soft drink, refreshing, citrusy and caramelized, delicately stings your nose.

Cabourg. It was here, under the flowering arbors of the gardens of the Grand Hôtel, in the heart of this elegant seaside resort on the Normandy coast, that Marcel Proust wrote Within a Budding Grove. A delectable aroma of wisteria and a whiff of creamy jasmine accented by the freshness of ocean spray permeate this timeless vacation spot.