The second edition of this design show, held in the heart of the Tuileries Gardens, combined past and present, innovation and excellence, continuing to bridge the worlds of architecture, art and fashion. Focus on five collections.
Matter and Shape marked its return to Paris in style during March's Fashion Week. This year's new design fair paid tribute to the 100th anniversary of the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes. This event popularized Art Deco, paving the way for modernist innovation, artistic expression and industrial functionality.
Matthieu Pinet, founder and director of Matter and Shape, in collaboration with Dan Thawley, Australian art director, journalist and publisher, paid tribute to "the ambitious projects and national pavilions that sprang up in central Paris a hundred years ago". Particularly the Pavillon de l'Esprit nouveau, designed by Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret and Amédée Ozenfant.
For four days, some fifty exhibitors from all over the world unveiled their pieces and collections in industrial, object and interior design, as well as fashion and decorative arts. The show took over two ephemeral spaces in the Tuileries Gardens, with two pavilions facing each other over 5,000 square meters. Matter and Shape skilfully pursues its cross-cutting approach to the 21stcentury between tradition, innovation and nostalgia, responding to cultural and artistic concerns.
© Masayuki Hayashi - Flow painting, Daisuke Yamamoto
Daisuke Yamamoto
The Japanese designer presented his "Flow painting" collection. This project stems from his "Flow" series, based on the concept of creating a fluid life cycle for materials. This is a method of rebuilding materials that minimizes industrial waste. The result is furniture in its raw state. Daisuke Yamamoto uses materials salvaged from demolition sites in a process known as "scrap and build". This collection is an act of restoration, focusing on light-gauge steel (LGS), the most widely used and discarded material. In this way, he continues to use materials without discarding them, and to explore the aesthetics born of the uniqueness and color of materials. The theme presented was "Blossom", where each flower held a soul to blossom.
Jeremy Maxwell Wintrebert
The Franco-American artist and designer stands out with this superb chandelier, all in glass, his material of choice. Named Marie-Antoinette after the queen's pearls, Jeremy Maxwell Wintrebert (JMW) revisits this historical and cultural object of the nobility, exploring France's monarchical and revolutionary history. Here, he has chosen to remove it from its height, letting it float just above the ground. With glass, he wants to give it a freer, more poetic, more contemporary vision. He invites us to reconsider "the object itself" and "our relationship to material, space and aesthetic narratives" in the history of design and the collective imagination. His work in the art of freehand blow-molding never ceases to push artistic boundaries at his studio, which celebrates its tenth anniversary this year.
SolidNature x Marte Mei
The natural stone brand has collaborated with the Dutch artist and designer on a sustainable collection that aims to reduce waste and rethink materials. These creations transform reclaimed natural stone into contemporary pieces. Marte Mei has developed a technique for scanning and reworking broken fragments to create new patterns. The collection features a bench and a coffee table, made from stone fragments supported by solid oak frames. Added to this is the Mark lamp, a reinterpretation of Marte Mei's porcelain model, made from SolidNature's translucent onyx. The collection thus combines natural, serene tones with dynamic, colorful touches.
NM3
The Milan-based brand, specialized in industrial design and adept at functionalism (problem solving) and modernism (form of expression), exhibited a series of models ranging from coffee tables to sofas and screens. Founders Francesco Zorzi, Nicolò Ornaghi and Delfino Sisto Legnani have made a name for themselves through their combination of raw materials, including steel, aluminum, marble and glass. The studio plays with modernist aesthetics, geometric precision and functional elegance. Their philosophy continues to be inspired by the strict, minimalist lines of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and to highlight the extraordinary in the ordinary.
Willo Perron x NO GA
This is Nordiska Galleriet's (NO GA) first collaboration with Willo Perron. The Montreal-based art director and designer is known for his stage productions for tours by Beyoncé, Drake and Rihanna, and his set designs for fashion shows such as Chanel. In this way, NO GA, a benchmark in Swedish design since 1912, continues to link its rich heritage to the future of living. This collection of modular furniture is no exception. These pieces, made up of tables and mirrors, trimmed in a high-gloss coating, are inspired by a more flexible interior and lifestyle. All are hand-crafted by artisans specialized in fiberglass fabrication. The range, with its retro-futuristic inspiration, is offered in five colors (white, gray, green, brown, red) and available from March 7.
Matter and Shape 2025
Jardin des Tuileries
La Caserne
12, rue Philippe-de-Girard, Paris 10e
