The Inspiration pavilions at Maison & Objet are always a must see on my biannual trips to Paris.  The exhibition and accompanying publication illustrate the shift in consumer desires and social needs that are motivating the European interiors industry.

What fascinates me most about these installations is how the ideas and motivations correspond with those that we’re seeing in Australia – the elements that are new, the ones that have already taken hold, and those that will require some translation either of the concept or the context.

The theme this season is Vivant (Living), and explores some familiar as well as some very new stories in natural beauty, new beginnings, comestibles as both form and material and bio-inspired design.  Here’s a glimpse of some of the highlights.

NOURRITURES PREMIÈRES (Primary foods) by Elizabeth Leriche is the most delicious of the three themes and focuses on food as a subject, as a material and as a point of inspiration.  Our appetite for authenticity and connection to natural substances leads designers to create products that celebrate the nourishment of the body and pleasure of the senses.

 

RENAISCIENCE by Vincent Grégoire (NellyRodi) takes visitors into the strange laboratory of our times and explores how ideas inspired by nature and revealed by the microscope are invigorating design.  “In the test tubes of bizarre beauty, an intriguing alchemy is distilling the lines of a bio-phantasmagoria.”  Complex forms and motives are inspired by biology, chemistry and natural mutations.

 

PIONNIER by François Bernard shifts our focus from the ornamental to the exquisitely utilitarian.  Modernity is becoming gentler as innovation sends positive energy through the field of design.  “Materials and their performance are sketching out a future in which the senses and sensuality are combined.”  Forms are fluid and light, practical yet not without fine detailing and intricate embellishments.

 

Of course the highlights of Maison & Objet are not limited to the trend areas and full reports will be available in limited number later this month.  Alternatively, you can pre order reports for Maison & Objet’s September exhibition from June 2013.

Heimtextil is the world’s largest international trade fair for home and contract textiles.  Its sheer size and that fact that it’s held in the heart of the Frankfurt winter means that this show is definitely not one for the design tourists.

The Trend Forum is always an incredible showcase of concept, exhibitor product and prototype designs and between the extravagant installation and the trend-focused seminar series, is just the place to check the pulse of the international textile industry.

Contributors to the trend team take it in turns to curate the annual exhibition. This year the team at Stijlinstituut, led by renowned forecaster Anne-Marie Commandeur, presented Being – a look into four different personality types and our real need to create spaces that we feel emotionally connected to.
The Historian is “a treasurer of the past, seeking value and discovering ways to make history relevant to contemporary life. Partial to noble products of supreme craft and artisanship with aristocratic élan.”

 

 

 

“These are lovers of luxury who appreciate the value of well-rooted quality and the concept of pedigree.  Born into a technology-dominated culture, they are devoted to finding ways to fit history into their contemporary lifestyles.”

 

In a mass of colour and pattern we found The Eccentric, “a hunter and collector, chasing the exquisite and the unique, cherishing and mixing discoveries with daring eclecticism. They assemble flamboyant concepts that have a timeless quality and an extremely decorative character.”

“Modern bohemians are touring the globe for joyful experiences and meaningful products. They scavenge the globe for the iconic and the extraordinary and are aware of the cultural context and origin of the trophies of their tours.”

The concept for The Inventor was quite possibly the most challenging to realise as much of the technology in textile is not visually apparent.  As a personality, The Inventor is “an intelligent free thinker, experimenting and researching solutions to make life fulfilling, fun and exciting. Fond of concepts in which function meets fun, wellness and entertainment the Inventor is eager to leave a personal trace on designs.”

The Inventor “creates concepts where function meets up with fun and wellness with entertainment. They conjure up the sensorial, the kinetic and interactive and link these to our favourite media, allowing us to play our way through the day.”

Finally, the Geologist was presented as “a nature lover, preserving as well as exploring the deepest layers of the earth and digging down for the unseen and the unexpected. They value the precious imperfections of geological textures, the science of nature and its surreal quality.”

“These are lovers of the good life, considerate yet demanding citizens who are aware of the quality of a product as well as its origins. Where does it all come from and what is the environmental and social impact of what surrounds and serves us?”

Regardless of your connection to the textiles industry, the Heimtextil trend forum is a clear yet sophisticated observation of both contract and residential trends globally.  Reports are available as of March 2013.