September 2018—The celebrated fair in Paris, Maison & Objet featured a wide variety of pieces. ArchiExpo e-Magazine spoke with a few designers of products that were being released for the first time.
The Italian brand ReLegno presented designs by Domenico Tammaro such as the Living Together collection, inspired by the protagonists of the film “The Dreamers” by Bernardo Bertolucci. The Isabelle chair is a simple wooden seat which is easily assembled and disassembled. The legs, seat and back hold together by an interlocking technique, producing a chair that is entirely glue and screw-free. The collection includes the Theo Tavolo table. The pieces come in eight fresh colors to mix and match.
Winner of a 2018 German Design Award, Lemus presented the new home collection of speakers. Designer and founder Rasmus M. Kastrup combines sound and smart home technology with design to create quality speakers suited for a stylish home. Each speaker is integrated into a furniture piece in wood with a metal base and fabric covers from Gabriel Fabrics. The speakers are WiFi, Blue Tooth and HDMI compatible.
Courtesy of Lemus
Taiwanese husband and wife duo Daqi Concept added to their collection of bird-shaped speaker lamps. The new piece, the Twitter Light, integrates a simple bird sculpture with a lamp and an alarm clock. Owners Sean Chen and Lotta Tu, who previously worked in the tech industry, focus on innovating the presentation of the technology. The bird is made from metal and ceramic, with a marble base. The Twitter Light communicates with an iPhone app through sound, using a wide stereo effect created with the sound waves that come from the bird’s body.
Long time cork producer Sofalca provides material for two design companies, Gencork wall covering and BlackCork furniture. For Maison & Objet, the Switch collection allowed the Portugal based collaborators to switch roles, with Gencork trying their hand at furniture design and BlackCork creating wall covering. BlackCork designer Toni Grilo told ArchiExpo e-Magazine, “I put myself in the architects shoes for Switch.” The two new wall coverings conceived by BlackCork are CorkBlack On White and Corkboard. The Gencork team created the modular side table collection Mass.
Danish designer Kristina Dam brought several new Nordic minimalist pieces to Maison & Objet including the Curve poof and side table. The poof is a simple inverted U shape covered in a natural tone leather with a medium-density fiberboard frame. The low black metal side table continues the theme with two U shaped metal magazine holders as its base.
The Beaming Bobber collection by Frederik Roijé is a series of pendant lamps that Roijé designed to look like fishing bobs floating on the water. “It’s a shape I knew from the past when I was a little boy,” Roijé told ArchiExpo e-Magazine. The black, red and white lamps are a ball shape, cut off at the bottom where it’s easy to imagine the water’s surface begins. A 3mm sheet of powder coated metal covers the opening to eliminate the glare of a bulb.
