Maison et Objet, renowned as the design Mecca, still today it's the
headliner show even with all the trade shows in the world, none quite
compare to the thrill of heading to this collection of talent and
innovation all in one place. It's truly one of the great events in
modern day Paris, staggering both in size and bewilderment of the unique
treasures laid before you, new and creative and fresh each year.
My brother had given me a few guidelines on what to look for, I knew we
needed coffee tables and giftware as our customers thrive off our
smaller items.
After running up to Sacre Couer and seeing the City of Lights at
sunrise, I felt warm and romanced by the beauty around me, and ready for
the day ahead.
Maison et Objet is set in the Parc des Expositions and it's a bit of a
trek to get there, but well worth the trip if you're a buyer or lover of
all things for the home.
With only The NEC and Earls Court Furniture trade shows to compare it
to, I arrived at the satellite of 8 halls all under one roof, it looked
pretty enormous from the outside and I worried that I wouldn't be able
to take it all in within the two day spectrum, this wonderland of design
with miles of eye candy from all over Europe, takes time to figure out,
I was there to look at competitors, new furniture designers, something
spectacular that could fit in our ever growing exciting range.
I started off the day in Hall 7, the new designers Hall, Most of the
furniture looked like a set from 1980's Hanna Barbera's The Jetsons
Cartoon....
Some examples below:
These ergonomic chairs were upholstered in neoprene, the same fabric
used to make wet suits.
So with all the Perspex and hi-tec fabric this furniture reminded me of
star wars meets the jetsons, I imagined the type of home it was designed
for, perhaps a flat pack lodge by the sea, or a sustainable glass house
in the foothills of Devon, I'd seen this sort of design before and it
wasn't really doing anything for me, it was all too reminiscent of the
iPod, not as straight corner in sight, perfectly fit for our health and
safety cotton wool world, the new future.
I did think this lamp was quite nice and it reminded me of the old
Singer sewing machines, It might be a idea to get some and try to adapt
them into lamps if All Saints Fashion Company haven't bought up all the
old stock that is.
I got chatting to some designers and liked their ideas of using the
working factories of France to bring their ideas to fruition. For
example a small company called 2222 Edition Design, designer Jean-Claude
Cardiet had made this magical lamp:
The head is made of Limoges porcelain and the horn is made of opaline,
covered with a twisted blown glass making it a magical night when its
horn diffuses a soft light through the room ...
It got me thinking about our facility in Blackpool to make our own
creations and use local factories and craftsmen if we need to create
statement pieces that reflect our hometown and give Febland more of an
identity with its surroundings.
My Grandfather was a lover of detailed Capo di Monte pieces as is my
father, and he has carried that through to today in his buying ethos,
there is definitely a strong Italian identity running through our range
and most of our frames for custom made orders are imported from Italy
however I feel we must further tie the Blackpool-Italian connection
together and there are unlimited ways of doing this now.
Ideas that come to mind are Blackpool Tower lamps, ranges in bold
primary colours and pastel shades,
Footstools with british flags upholstered on them like this, with big
ben or black tower for legs:
On of the busiest stands in Hall 8 was Chehoma, they were like the Coach
House of Britain, they must have had over 10,000 products in their
range, there was something for everyone on this stand, the above
footstool caught my eye and Its something which I believe we will be
able to make in house to our own specification.
Themes that stood out in the furniture halls of 4 and 5 were nautical,
industrial, bachelor pad-esque, strong oak furniture, thick cut glass
with attached to old rail sleepers, slick glass extending tables with
their mechanics revealed, like the inside of a clock, it was all quite
exciting and you could see the stars of the show were making intelligent
furniture, structurally engineered pieces reminiscent of torpedoes,
aeronautical equipment. The juxtaposition of materials was very
interesting and shows that the furniture is mirroring society as borders
are broken and boundaries are crossing more than ever before.
Interesting pieces I found were:
The Marie-Galante Make up Trunk made in Rosewood, the company selling
them were called Stargate, they are already a best seller in the Conran
shop.
The Princess table by Olgoj Chorchoj
is now being
produced by Process
after its debut at 100% Design London last year.
Candles by Pont a la Ligne, the quality here was outstanding and they do
a range of food and flowers and seaside themes which would fit our
range.
Hubert Le G alle's Statement Flower Coffee Table, absolutely stunning.
Animal shaped photo cushions by Areaware they looked amazing grouped
together on a sofa.
Their spring catalogue is definitely worth a look:
http://areaware.com/catalog/AREAWARE_SPRING2012.pdf
An idea of what to do with all our surplus fabric patches here:
It's the most exciting time because of this, now feels like a good time
to take risks, anything goes, ranges are broad, companies went all out
and showed everything, with no blank spaces to be seen, a huge mish mash
of colours, objects and it all worked. Strong themes throughout the
show were animals, animal hide, animal objects, stuffed animals, fish,
sharks, vitrines, science, the collector, colonialism, the theme was
actually entitled "crazy" and I have to say that out of all the trade
shows I've been too, it was probably the most pretentious one and I
viewed it like I'd just been to an exhibition at the Venice Biennalle.
The mish mash of materials, post modern objects were intriguing and told
a story about industry and culture today, it was inspiring and
captivating, confusing and messy and hardly any of them sold a lifestyle
I wanted to be in, I just took the objects with their rich history and
decided that Feblands, with its humble beginnings, has a strong identity
and knows where it is and where its going, we just need to keep it going
and use our in-house talent to come up with our own range of furniture
that tells the story clearer about a little town called Blackpool with
big ideas so it will put us on the worldwide map have people awing at
our products.
Most furniture companies are importing from the far east and all the
stands were peppered with small accessories, there were lots of Ceramic
figurines like our own, mainly in different colours other than our
chrome range, some doubled up as useful objects like bookends for
example a hippo's head and front legs at one end of the shelf and its
rear legs at the other. This was quite a nice idea, as after a few
hours of walking round an expo you begin to see the amount of excess and
build up and you start to feel a little nauscious at the fact that not
much of it has any use and therefore anything that has a purpose becomes
a bonus. I thought that some of our old car models could do with an
update, perhaps a coat of silver or white paint would update them or
incorporate them into a coffee table by embedding them into the base or
making them the legs.
A Blackpool range is a definite must for us, this could be done in a way
were we look back at Victorian Blackpool and take note of some of the
remaining architecture, the old photos , and perhaps make a range of
chairs upholstered in deckchair stripe, beach hut style fab
ric, also
look at Blackpool's rich circus history, we could make CP balloon dogs, Jeff Koons
acrobats, totum poled animals reminiscent of the Peter Blake sculpture
on south beach.