PARIS — At Paris Fashion Week this season, design is spilling from the catwalk into the home.
A new design salon under the creative direction of Dan Thawley, the former editor in chief of A Magazine Curated By, aims to attract buyers and editors with a mix of exhibitors large and small, many of whom have strong connections with the fashion scene.
Rick Owens, Sacai, Charlotte Chesnais, Delfina Delettrez Fendi and Kym Ellery are some of the industry names who will be showcasing their design objects at the inaugural edition of Matter and Shape, scheduled to run from March 1 to 4 in tandem with accessories trade show Première Classe in the Tuileries Gardens.
Coming on the heels of the first edition of Design Miami/Paris last fall, it underscores the French capital’s growing pull as a hub for international design, but Thawley doesn’t see it competing with established events like PAD Paris, which groups leading galleries and also takes place in the Tuileries.
Rather, he has tried to curate a selection of more accessible design objects aimed at a wide cross-section of buyers, collectors, decorators and journalists. The event will feature a series of talks sponsored by Jil Sander and curated by Milan-based architecture and research studio Space Caviar, as well as a buzzy pop-up restaurant by culinary collective We Are Ona.
“There is space for something new on the Paris design scene, as we have such a renaissance with the arrival of Design Miami, the arrival of Art Basel Paris+, other small design fairs that are happening during art week in October, but they’re missing an enormous audience that are all in Paris anyway for Paris Fashion Week,” Thawley told WWD.
Matter and Shape is the brainchild of Mathieu Pinet, who originally launched the platform as an online design guide. Having joined trade show organizer WSN in 2022 as managing director of Salon de la Lingerie and Interfilière, he decided to turn it into a physical event.
Registration is free, and WSN banks on attracting many of the 10,000 visitors that are expected to attend Première Classe. In addition, it has worked with Milan-based strategic and communications partner P:S Creative Agency to widen its reach among the design community.
“It’s a faultless location for Paris because during fashion week, not only do people come to attend fashion shows, people come to shop, people come to visit the city. There are international collectors of many kinds of objects also that come to Paris during that time to spend money,” Thawley remarked.
“It’s also a time when all of the buyers of department stores, of multibrand stores, all are in Paris as well. Many of them do not attend other design happenings around the world,” he continued. “We wanted to cater to that market as well, so it’s really a very layered approach.”
The 33 exhibitors range from major design companies like housewares and kitchen utensil-maker Alessi, lighting specialist Flos and outdoor furniture-maker Tolix, to small start-ups, makers and magazines that are acting as platforms for designers.
Thawley aims to provide a hub for the kinds of projects usually showcased in small galleries or showrooms across town, as a counterpoint to the industry heavyweights and luxury brands that dominate the Salone del Mobile in Milan, for instance.
Owens will showcase objects including candlesticks and vases alongside a series of art works by Scarlett Rouge, the daughter of his wife Michèle Lamy.
Sacai is showing ceramics from its ongoing collaboration with Astier de Villatte, which are available only in Japan. These include pieces inspired by kintsugi, the Japanese art of repairing broken objects.
Chesnais will feature creations including the candleholders she made in collaboration with Loro Piana, while Delettrez Fendi is presenting “Objets de Vie,” a line of “whimsical heirlooms for the home” including a white gold ice cream cone set with sapphires and tourmalines.
Ellery, meanwhile, is branching out of ready-to-wear with a new project called Atelier Ellery that will be launching its first lamps and chairs.
While many of the objects have a clear design pedigree, Thawley wants to keep the offer accessible. For instance, furniture brand Typ is showing items designed by Josef Albers priced under 2,000 euros.
“It’s not always the most expensive or the most precious or the most rare, but it’s just good and that’s why I want to show it,” he said. “We’re all collectors in a way now, and I think it’s just silly to think about them as a separate 1 percent of society, when it’s no longer the case.”
The 32,300-square-foot show tent was conceived by Los Angeles-based architect and designer Willo Perron of Perron-Roettinger Studio, known for projects including pop-ups for Skims and the show set for Rihanna’s Super Bowl performance. The tent is open on one side to let in natural light, with sails, wood and beige carpet contrasting with more industrial elements like scaffolding.
“I want Matter and Shape to be a very uniform environment. It’s like a cocoon,” Thawley explained. “It’s not a white cube and cold like an art fair. It’s rather a sort of warm, soft, natural space.”
Perfumer H is the scent partner of the show. Founder Lyn Harris has curated a selection of different fragrances, from the hand sanitizer to the bathroom soaps to incense burners in the spaces.
The central café is sponsored by Zara Home in partnership with the Dreamin’ Man café in Paris. “That’s really exciting for me, because it’s quite disruptive,” said Thawley, noting the Spanish high street retailer has upped its design credentials with projects like its furniture collection designed by Vincent Van Duysen.
A design boutique will feature a selection of objects, as well as vintage and hard-to-find design tomes curated by Rare Books Paris.
One of the hottest tables in town this season will be We Are Ona’s pop-up restaurant, featuring an installation conceived by Perron and an Armenian-inspired menu concocted by U.S. chef Pierce Abernathy, who just walked in the Helmut Lang show in New York City. The slots sold out within days of being advertised last week.
“Design is not just chairs and tables. It’s about how we live, it’s about lifestyle, and I think that’s also why it’s perfect that it happens sometimes during fashion week, because the people that are in that environment are connoisseurs, and they’re learning to be connoisseurs in design more and more,” Thawley said.
There is something to look at even for those just breezing by between shows. Sabine Marcelis, the Dutch furniture designer known for her work with Phoebe Philo at Celine, will set up her marble swivel chairs by the entrance. “Those chairs, we’ve calculated, will probably be seen by at least 100,000 people,” Thawley said.
The editor, who is also a consultant, author, speaker and curator, said heritage design brands and fashion companies are keeping close tabs on the inaugural edition to see how they might be able to take part going forward.
“We want to create something that is actually quite fluid and dynamic. We don’t need the same companies to come back every time,” he said.
With a partnership with the Design Parade Toulon festival planned for 2025, the trade show is already looking beyond Paris. “It will be a really interesting experimental ground for Matter and Shape to see how the boutique element can also manifest in other pop-ups and other events around the world in the future,” Thawley said.
