maison&objet’s ENJOY theme is in quest for pleasures with audacity, humor & color

designboom interviews peclers paris for maison&objet

Maison&Objet 2023 presents inspiration as an invitation to rediscover happiness. With touches of color, extravagance, audacity, and humor, the international platform reveals ‘ENJOY: in a quest for pleasures’. Curated by strategy agency Peclers Paris, the program’s theme addresses three stages of pleasure translated into three different rooms filled with imaginative accessories, furniture, and materials. Including works by Sabine Marcelis and Muller Van Severen, the playful mazes highlight the lifestyle of each consumer family where visitors can literally project themselves into it and experience it for themselves.

‘For the first time, Peclers Paris collaborates with Maison&Objet to define the big theme of this season, ENJOY: in quest for pleasures. We really appreciate the fact that we had a 360-degree overview and control of the curation of the space, including the visual communication and typography,’ begins Charlotte Cazals, Design & Trend Forecaster at Peclers Paris.

all images courtesy of Maison&Objet

maison&objet presents enjoy: in quest for pleasures 

An inspirational edition led by artists and designers achieves its fulfilment in Fall 2023, as the program of Paris Design Week and the exhibitors of the Maison&Objet event express a playful mood loudly and in color to the professionals of the sector. As a preview on the M.O.M (Maison&Objet and More) platform, now a marketplace, ‘ENJOY: in quest for pleasures’ takes over the Inspire Me! forum with initiation. Thanks to the expertise of Peclers Paris, design and the interiors transform into pleasure, boost endorphins and encourage an exploration for festivity and fantasy. The leading consultancy firm specializing in creative strategy and prospective trends (fashion, beauty, design & lifestyle) collaborates with M&O to reveal the uniqueness of the different brands and develop desirable products, services and experiences.

‘The idea of the theme was to try to find a renewed quest for happiness and enjoyment in this anxiety-infused and stressful period that we’re in. To do this, we picked out three different tribes of consumers that have the same goal towards finding happiness, which we named Festive Decadence, Collective Optimist, and Sensitive Hedonist,’ explains Charlotte Cazals to designboom.

the three stages of pleasure

1. Seductive Expressiveness (Festive Decadence): The most visible part of this quest for pleasures is driven by brands and creators who are not afraid to stand out, quite the contrary. For this ‘home,’ whose definition as a place of retreat and tranquility has been replaced by an ultra-expressive venue, light comes into play. The effects are glossy, metallic, and the shapes sensual. These qualifiers can be applied to the collections of the new Theoreme Editions design atelier which appeared on ‘In the city,’ as well as to the proposals of the American Jonathan Adler, a regular on the show. This repertoire is also expressed in accents, for example in one of Matière Grise’s classics, the Batchair, which can be adorned with glamorous brass. It sets Victoria Wilmotte’s tables ablaze with pleats or signs An&Angel’s decorative glass objects with copper leaf effects and curves.

‘With each room, we tried to have little sceneries of lifestyles, as if stepping into someone’s apartment or living room. For example, Festive Decadence is covered in a red-wine velveted floor, like an ode to a glamorous and flamboyant nightlife experience. As you move along you get into the Collective Optimist, decorated with a beautifully knitted fabric on the wall really drawing the attention on the assumed joy of the fake food and candles set on the table. In the last space, Sensitive Hedonist, a dreamy and hazy atmosphere unravels. Many of the metallic and reflective finishes reference a digital escape, while the softer touches create the softer contrast, of comfort,’ she describes.

They are game(s) of oneself, desires to compose a diverse and creative identity, as with the Lensa AI application that allows one to put on a new costume and artificial identity in a few seconds. It is also the revived atmosphere of disco nightclubs such as Studio 54 or the Palace, which can be revisited in hospitality venues. There’s also the sensual universe of Rodolphe Parente inviting visitors to a sort of Counter soirée. Finally, it is theatricality that spreads, as in the Stolen Objects from the Sea by the Uchronia studio at Laparra during Paris Design Week.

2. Liberating Creativity (Collective Optimist): This quest for pleasures is expressed through staging with quirky humor, and nourishes utopian imaginations and fantastical universes, through which several artists, architects and designers have the right to daydream or to a ‘Great escape’. For instance, Muller Van Severen’s tubular structures with almost childlike lines could be among the collective optimists identified by Peclers Paris agency. This trend is reminiscent of the collections of 13desserts, from Marseille, which has been making a name for itself for several seasons at the show and at Paris Design Week. Furniture, decorative objects, fashion and home accessories are presents in all sectors with the works of Maison Dada, Bleu citron, Kalager, Colortherapis, Pulpo, Ibaba Rwanda and more.

‘Our joy was also picking and working with some of my favorite designers that we thought we would never be able to have in our forum. It was really fun defining with them all of the aesthetic qualities of each trend. One was shiny, sensual and intimate, the other was colorfully playful and very graphic, while the third one was poetically digital, and focused on the physical and mental wellbeing. It was so interesting touching on all of these different aspects with about 70% completely new artists and designers,’ adds Charlotte Cazals.

‘all of us have a role to play in making tomorrow way more enjoyable’

3. Heightened Sensitivity (Sensitive Hedonist): When well-being is associated with a return to basics, pleasure requires exploration. Digital then becomes the gateway to new perceptions of oneself, to a more fun, uncomplicated, attractive and accessible well-being. The quest for peace combines augmented reality with sensory immersion when its material translation suggests new forms and sensations. This approach evokes that of designer Sabine Marcelis, whose Virtual Tactility experience offers a virtual representation of works presented as genuine sensory experiences. The metallic and repetitive architecture of the Kataba Fréquence shelves seems to adopt the same language, as do the soft and rounded creations of Francesco Balzano for Théorème Editions, the Unstressed chair of the Swedish design studio Stamuli, or the vases in 3D print by Studio Argot.

‘I really hope people get inspired by our forum, the choice of colors, objects, materiality and ductility, but I also hope that they understand our message: all of us have a role to play in making tomorrow way more enjoyable, colorful and lighter,’ concludes Charlotte on Maison&Objet’s ENJOY theme.