MAISON & OBJET – ‘Le French Design’

While people immediately recognise Scandinavian design, French furniture design is somewhat nebulous. Maison et Objet has therefore decided to change this and celebrate the values of French Furniture.

Maison & Objet Paris is one of the biggest interior design events in the world. For this year’s edition, the fair has initiated an ambitious operation titled ‘Le French Design, no taste for bad taste’ in an effort to pay tribute to the values on the French furniture industry. Twenty-five exhibitors will partake in the plan to generate public awareness of the ten core values - identified by the ‘Valorisation de l’Innovation dans l’Ameublement’ (VIA) - that characterise French design. “The public has a general idea of what defines Italian, German, Scandinavian and Japanese design, but have a much less clear picture of what constitutes French design,” says Jean-Paul Bath, VIA’s executive director. “The idea is to get a concrete idea of what French design actually represents, both from the designer’s standpoint and our industry’s intrinsic expertise.”

Artists have long played a key role in raising the profile of a city or nation. And by supporting home-grown designers in defining the values of French furniture design, France seems to be on a mission to expand its cultural cachet - beyond fashion and food. Celebrating local talent certainly is part of a more general shift towards patriotism, but Maison & Objet’s operation is not the only sign of the nation trying to boost its international appeal. Station F - set to launch in Paris in April ‘17 - is the world’s largest start-up campus gathering a whole entrepreneurial ecosystem. So for a nation more renowned for its heritage and holiday destinations, furniture and tech might soon help the ‘grande nation’ get an upgrade.

STACK - Inkjet Printer by Mugi Yamamoto

Stack – a truly innovative inkjet printer designed by product designer and ECAL alumnus Mugi Yamamoto. The printer is reduced down to the central function of a device of this sort – the actual printing. With traditional printers, the largest component is the paper compartment. Stack does without it altogether. 

The printer is placed directly on the stack of paper that is to be printed. During printing, the individual sheets are pulled in from below and ejected again at the top of the device. Stack thus works its way, so to speak, through the pile of paper until the paper runs out. As a result of this approach, the printer has a highly compact, simple and appealing design. 

Essential conditions for the creation of the device were a careful choice of components and the development of a special infeed mechanism. Stack is designed to meet the needs of people who work in a mobile manner or in a confined space, and have problems with the bulky form of ordinary printers.

Stack has been awarded with the Design Prize Switzerland 2016 in the category 'Rado Star Prize Switzerland for Young Talents'.

FREDERIK ROIJÉ – Guidelines Magazine Rack

Simply beautiful. Made from a powder-coated steel framework, ‘Guidelines’ is a beautifully designed magazine rack by Frederik Roijé. A nice-to- have interior design piece for any magazine lover, Guidelines allows you to display up to nine of your favourite magazines and covers in the most artful way.

Known for their creative and innovative approach to product and spatial design, Frederik Roijé specialises in furniture, lighting, interior and industrial design.

STELTON x SOMETHING DESIGN – Collar Coffee Set

‘Collar’ is a new brewing collection designed by Italian studio Something Design for Danish brand Stelton. 

Apparently, the objective was clear: to inject enjoyment into the ritual of coffee brewing. Although practical and functional in its purest sense, the collection – which consists of a coffee grinder, jar, milk jug and sugar bowl – does by no means lack design thinking and aesthetic consciousness. 

Inspired by both Scandinavian design and ‘cultural observations’, Collar will sit perfectly in any coffee and design lover’s home. Available from September.

AANDERSSON – Olov Bowl

Philadelphia based design concept AANDERSSON specialises in experimental approaches to ceramic design. Founded by Ian Anderson, the studio’s collections are generally defined by an intriguing interplay between the juxtaposition of both familiar and fundamental design elements and highly considered functional forms.

AANDERSSON’s Olov bowl is part of the deconstructions collection, which explores the impact of radical alteration on the ultimate functionality of traditional utilitarian forms. All pieces in the collection remain functional. Material: premium quality porcelain.

GAVIN COYLE – Companion Magazine Rack

‘Companion’ is magazine rack inspired by a dog fetching the paper. As such, this joyful interior design piece fits one rolled newspaper in its ‘snout’, with plenty of space for magazines in its body. Material: powder-coated, wire formed steel

Gavin Coyle Studio is a workshop based in London that designs and crafts products to be enjoyed, used and lived with. With a small team of skilled cabinetmakers, the studio aims to create timeless products that are unpretentious and quiet yet have an enduring presence in the home. The studio’s design philosophy is very much based around the ethos less is more, with products carefully designed to be long-lasting.

CINQPOINTS – Architectural Stationery and Toys

One of our most recent discoveries is Cinqpoints - a French company that designs and produces stationery objects and toys. What makes the brand stand out is not only their truly refined and clean design aesthetic, but their mission to spread contemporary architecture to a larger audience. In so doing, Cinqpoints intriguingly combines playfulness, curiosity and imagination with contemporary culture, design and architecture.

Archiblocks is a construction set of building blocks created for both adults and children. Designed by Laurence Calafat for Cinqpoints, the set creatively as well as intelligently follows the formula of form + balance + composition + inspiration = architecture. The result being a modern16-piece set of smooth, precision-cut, untreated blocks that allows you to experiment with modularity, volume, balance and compositions. Material: untreated, natural lime-wood. Comes in three different style: natural, black and white.

Photographed by Ali Baïlon for GOODS WE LIKE.

YIELD - Outdoor Spun Planter

YIELD’s new extra large outdoor spun planter is made from a single piece of powder-coated metal. At 16" in diameter, the planter holds a range of both large plants and smaller trees.

Founded in 2012 by Andrew Deming and Rachel Gant, YIELD is part studio, part label and part manufacturer. The independent design studio creates objects mainly for the home blending American craft with forward-thinking ingenuity.

MULLER VAN SEVEREN – Coasters

With both Fien Muller and Hannes Van Severen being artists, their collections sit somewhere between design and art. “It’s obviously ‘furniture’ but the emphasis is not completely concentrated on function and suggests different ways of living and use of space… an uncanny twist on universal forms.” 

Muller Van Severen’s notion of colour and colour combinations is not less intriguing. Sometimes subtle, sometimes contrastingly bold, but always with a harmonious result. Such as the Coasters that are both wall sculptures and functional objects.