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Paris Design Week

This year's Paris Design Week explores desirable lifestyles

Dezeen promotion: Parisian galleries, showrooms and boutiques will open their doors for Paris Design Week from 9-18 September.

The 10-day event will host exhibitions, workshops and discussions surrounding a range of design disciplines, including fashion, homeware and interiors.

This year the event has adopted the same theme as the biannual Parisian interior design show Maison & Objet – "desirable development".

The show will aim to explore objects that represent designers' visions of what makes a desirable lifestyle in light of the changes the coronavirus pandemic has brought.

Paris Design Week
The Frugal exhibition showcases designs from over 40 designers including this bamboo lamp by Samy Rio

Although Maison & Objet was a digital event in 2020, it will return physically this year from 9-13 September, and like Paris Design Week which was an in-person event in 2020, it will exhibit previously unseen collections from across the globe.

"Rising talents and iconic design brands, young graduates and museum institutions, freshly launched design houses, artisans and designer-makers with inspired and inspiring hands will all flock to Paris to invent and showcase their vision of a desirable lifestyle," said the organisers.

"A lifestyle that is in harmony with nature, that leverages technology to bring people together – sometimes virtually – whilst drawing on traditional expertise that is handed down from generation to generation, bearing witness to the passing of time."

Paris Design Week
Empreintes will be exhibiting in their concept store located at 5 rue de Picardie, Paris 3

The event will be hosted across 300 venues in Paris. One of which is the Hotel de Coulanges which will host an exhibition called Frugal that intends to address the design challenges the world is facing in relation to the climate crisis.

The exhibition will include pieces from over 40 designers who have experimented with recyclable and low energy materials, including seaweed, fungi and shells.

This includes Samy Rio, professor and researcher at the recently opened Luma Arles arts centre in southern France, who has made a series of minimalist vases from clay and a bamboo lamp.

"It is an exhibition that invites us to rethink our approach to beauty, encouraging us to look for it in a frugal and sustainable way," said the organisers.

Paris Design Week
Jamy Yang's rugs are designed to reference hyperspace and relativity

The Paris Design Week Factory, a flagship event for young international designers in partnership with Galerie Joseph, will run throughout the week.

Here recent graduates will present their prototypes and the event intends to help them kick start their careers.

Also displayed in Galerie Joseph will be an ideas laboratory and new materials experimentation hub where visitors can learn about emerging materials, methods and designs.

From 13-15 September Campus des, Métiers d'Art et du Design will exhibit the work of eight design schools in an exhibition called Vivement Demain. The students' work tackles the challenges of today and the future, including how to manufacture sustainable products.

Paris Design Week
The Frugal exhibition also showcases Samy Rio's minimalist vases made from clay

"Today's ecological issues have left us all with no choice but to think about manufacturing things differently," said the organisers. "Disposable goods, polluting products and unsustainable manufacturing processes must all make way for more responsible solutions."

"It is an exhibition that places the decorative arts resolutely centre stage, with projects demonstrating a combination of innovation, audacity and a keen eye for detail, spearheaded by young up-and-coming designers who are in tune with modern times and keen to address the challenges of the future."

Also included throughout Paris Design Week will be designer Pierre Gonalons' contemporary furniture, which will be exhibited at the Sully Hotel, home to France’s Centre of National Monuments. Here visitors can see Gonalons’ contemporary chairs and furniture interact with the historic architecture.

"Pierre Gonalons in collaboration with Craman Lagarde, Carrésol, Duvivier and Les Emaux de Longwy, will be installed in such a way as to cleverly interact with the majestic XVIIth-century Parisian architecture," said the organisers.

Paris Design Week
Pierre Gonalons' contemporary furniture is exhibited at Sully Hôtel, home to France’s Centre of National Monuments

Installations including Jardin Secret by light sculpture studio Art et Floritude will also be in place during the week. Exhibited in a former Parisian paint factory the piece is a light sculpture referencing plant's structure and form.

"In a nod to the grape harvest season – the iconic vines ramble across the walls and ceilings, intertwining with some brand-new creations," said the organisers.

"A celebration of metal lacework, handcrafted sheet by sheet, and adorned with porcelain flowers whose transparency is revealed by the light."

Paris Design Week
Jardin Secret is a light sculpture referencing plants

Throughout the week visitors can also see Jamy Yang's luscious rugs with marble patterns designed to explore hyperspace and relativity. Yang's carpets are distorted and made via hand-tufting techniques.

Visitors can also visit Empreintes, a concept store showcasing French designers’ tableware, jewellery and sculptures made using traditional crafts. This takes place at 5 rue de Picardie, Paris 3.

More information about Paris Design Week is on its website.


Partnership content

This article was written by Dezeen for Paris Design Week as part of a partnership. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.