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Sur/Reality: Center Stage at Maison&Objet 2025

Sur/Reality: Center Stage at Maison&Objet 2025
Opening of Maison&Objet January 2025. ©Anne-Emmanuelle Thion

Maison&Objet 2025 is hosting its ‘Sur/Reality’ edition, featuring Faye Toogood’s introspective installation, Elizabeth Leriche’s surreal decor maze, and Julien Sebban’s dreamlike hospitality exhibit while celebrating the success of its new Women&Design platform.

January 16–20—Maison&Objet has once again captivated the design and architecture world, immersing visitors in the boundless imagination of its “Sur/Reality” theme. This edition’s event celebrates the intersection of the surreal and the tangible, weaving fantasy into innovative spaces and objects. The installations showcase the bold creativity shaping contemporary design from dreamlike labyrinths to time-warped hospitality concepts. Maison&Objet also shines a spotlight on inclusivity and diversity through its newly launched Women&Design platform, underscoring the invaluable contributions of women in the industry.

“In March, we will launch the Innovation Award for Women,” Mélanie Leroy, Managing Director of Maison&Objet, MOM, and Paris Design Week stated during a press tour of the event.

The award targets three objectives: to highlight rising talents, offer a platform for visibility, and generate networking possibilities.

In line with these initiatives, we felt a great emphasis on women in design through conferences, installations, and exhibitions throughout the fair. Although many women previously refrained from participating in conversations about being a woman in the design industry, many of them are beginning to see the importance of such discussions.

“I’d always avoided discussing the challenges of being a female designer in a male-dominated field,” Faye Toogood, Designer of the Year, explained during the press tour of her installation WOMANIFESTO! “But there’s a growing interest from young designers, and I’m finally ready to talk about it.”

Faye Toogood offered a rare glimpse into her multidisciplinary creative process. Throughout decades in the arts and design sectors, she has been inspiring young and experienced designers for years. 

Meanwhile, Elizabeth Leriche’s “What’s New in Decor” invited attendees to rediscover the surrealism of André Breton’s era, walking a labyrinthine path of unconscious exploration and playful distortion.

And for the first time, Maison&Objet dedicated significant space to the hospitality sector, featuring Julien Sebban’s Hotel Uchronia—a sensory escape with whimsical, dreamlike interiors that blur the boundaries of time and reality. We can expect to see more of the hospitality industry in future January editions.

These transformative spaces uniquely blended art, design, and the surreal to inspire the creative mind.

What’s New in Decor and Hospitality

The “What’s New in Decor” installation, curated by trend expert Elizabeth Leriche, transported visitors into a surreal world where imagination and design merged seamlessly. Inspired by the Sur/Reality theme, Leriche created an immersive labyrinth symbolizing the unconscious, with spaces that invited attendees to step outside everyday life. From the Fantastic Forest’s mysterious connection to nature to the Room of Dreams’ nod to André Breton’s surrealist poetry, every corner evoked wonder and curiosity. Elements like the Hypnotic Corridor, with its distorting stripes and playful objects, highlighted the power of design to disorient and delight while celebrating the centennial of the surrealist movement. Each section showcased a curated selection of products from exhibitors, offering a tangible and inspiring exploration of this edition’s theme.

Watch our Facebook live to go inside the installation by Elizabeth Leriche here.

Here are a few of the brands found in the installation:

Some other brands include BD Barcelona, Heike Buchfelder, Ibride, Moser, Lladro, Vanessa Mitrani, Wonderwall Studio, Zieta.

In hospitality, Julien Sebban’s Hotel Uchronia redefined the boundaries of sensory design with a time-warped experience that felt both luxurious and whimsical. The 200-square-meter installation featured seven rooms, each blending fantasy and functionality, from a peanut-shaped bathtub to playful stained glass windows and an artful smoking lounge. Sebban incorporated surreal elements like chairs placed on tables and quirky silverware to highlight creative excellence while distorting reality. The space also paid homage to the duality of day and night, with atmospheric lighting and colors in a 24/7 bar that mirrored the round-the-clock nature of modern hospitality. This bold focus on the hospitality sector signals Maison&Objet’s commitment to elevating its presence in this industry, with a promise of continued innovation in future editions.

Here are a few of the brands found in the installation:

Faye Toogood’s “WOMANIFESTO!” Installation

Faye Toogood offered an intimate exploration of her creative process and identity as a designer. She described the installation as a window into her “walnut brain,” with four distinct rooms representing the pillars of her practice: drawing, sculpture, materials, and landscape. The spaces combined her hallmark minimalist geometry with newfound warmth and openness, reflecting her evolving focus on humanity and nature. 

“It’s essentially a full stop in my mind,” she explained during the press tour, “as we move into a new era with abstraction and AI reshaping the role of the designer.” 

The Drawing Room featured hand-painted walls and Toogood’s new gummy lounge chair, with its soft, organic shapes embodying her focus on comfort and connection. The Sculpture Room showcased her iconic Roly-Poly chair, reimagined in black, alongside other signature pieces, emphasizing geometry and materiality. 

Watch our Facebook live to go inside the installation by Faye Toogood here.

“This space reflects a shift in my work—from minimalist, singular forms to something more human and expressive,” she noted.

In the Materials Room, Toogood celebrated her deep appreciation for natural elements. Featuring bronze, ceramic, and wood pieces crafted in collaboration with artisans, this space underscored the central role of materials in her design ethos. 

“Materials are at the heart of my work and will only grow in importance as we move forward,” she shared. 

Finally, the Landscape Room connected visitors to the natural world, showcasing works inspired by the essence and vitality of nature. This room encapsulated her belief in design’s potential to bridge humanity and the environment, setting the tone for a more thoughtful, grounded future in design. Through this immersive and deeply personal installation, Toogood created a space for reflection, creativity, and connection.

Complete with Women&Design, Limited Editions, and Hospitality

This edition’s Maison&Objet lived up to its promise, blending the visionary Sur/Reality theme with a greater focus on hospitality and women in design. Installations like Julien Sebban’s Hotel Uchronia and the Women&Design platform celebrated innovation, inclusivity, and new avenues of creativity. The curated art exhibition “Curatio” further elevated the experience, showcasing exquisite limited-edition pieces crafted with artistry and technical brilliance, underscoring the event’s dedication to celebrating both heritage and cutting-edge design.

Looking ahead, the upcoming September edition promises an improved layout to enhance the visitor experience and make exploring specific industry sectors more seamless. With plans to highlight young talent, delve into niche markets like “designs for pets,” and unveil young talents, the future of Maison&Objet is poised to inspire and surprise once again. Stay tuned for what’s next in the world of design and creativity.

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