Crisp, sub-zero temperatures did little to dissuade the crowds from attending Paris Design Week 2024, the fabric-, wallpaper-, lighting-, and furniture-focused show that takes place in the French capital. The programme of events (18 – 22 January) spread across the city centre arrondissements – with St Germain the hub for Paris Deco Off and Maison Objet In The City – and included more than 100 showrooms, apartments, and pop-up spaces, which provided the backdrop for myriad new launches.
Paris Design Week 2024: the highlights
Dedar
Demonstrating a flare for diversity, the Italian fabric and wallcovering design house Dedar Milano unveils ‘Contemporary Archives’, an eclectic collection that incorporates design cues of both classical and contemporary styles. Dedar describes this new collection as a ‘journey’, explaining, ‘the road winds its way through the immortal tiger skin and soft enigmatic labyrinths; it passes through the geometric motifs of suit fabrics, storied effects reminiscent of jewellery making’, and on to an ‘abstract revisitation of Japanese figurative art’. Possibly one of the most eye-catching of all the new designs are three new interpretations of Dedar’s woven jacquard tiger’s skin – a deep orange woven jacquard fabric now available in three slightly different tiger-print scales.
Sahco
With a 200-year-old legacy in textiles, Sahco has drawn inspiration from the book Neo-classicism in the North, which centres around ‘a movement in architecture and art in the Nordics in the late 18th to early 19th century’ for its latest designs. Sahco says that the textile designs ‘express randomness and control, flamboyance and restraint’. To name a few, there’s ‘Deedee’, a graphic polka dot design with a sense of shimmer, ‘Fiorella’, described by Sahco as ‘an epic flower framed by expanses of blank space’, and ‘Satora’ a graphic leopard print available in a palette of vibrant and bold colours.
Loro Piana
Set against the backdrop of an apartment on rue des Saints-Pères, where the exposed iron ceiling beams were designed by Alexandre-Gustave Eiffel, Loro Piana displayed a series of new products which focused on ‘personalisation’ for the bedroom, the table, the bath, and the spa. There are tablecloths, placemats, runners, and linen napkins that can be adorned with embroidery, openwork, and contrasting edging, a range of bedding sheets, pillow cases and duvet covers in organic cotton and linen, and a queen-size cashmere blanket – edged with a choice of cashmere chevron ribbon.
Not forgetting the new ‘Sils Stripe’ rug, which is handwoven in New Zealand wool. Additionally, a showcase of new indoor fabric designs (displayed on a collection of furniture by the designer Cristián Mohaded, and Exteta) offers a classic Loro Piana palette – subtle and earthy. The new fabrics include an interpretation of a Harris Tweed (Hebrides), a cashmere and wool mix (Khangai), a combination of hemp, jute, cotton, and viscose (Tusco), an ultra-soft cashmere and linen (Ponente), and a cotton velvet (Morning Room). Additionally, there’s a selection of outdoor fabrics, all with high percentages of recycled textile and available in striped, solid colour, and textured designs.
Liaigre x Costes
Studio Liaigre has handpicked a capsule collection of five striking pieces originally designed by Christian Liaigre for the chic five-star Hotel Costes, on rue Saint-Honoré. Embodying the studio’s palette for clean lines and simplicity, the edit includes examples of both seating and lighting designs in a classic neutral colour palette.
Delcourt Collection
Marking 30 years since its inception, French design house Delcourt Collection, which is led by Paris-based designer Christophe Delcourt, unveiled a curated series of contemporary furniture designs called ‘Piece By Piece’ (and new textiles) within the atelier’s showroom at 47 rue de Babylone. Each of the designs embodies Delcourt’s penchant for capturing an essence of French excellency with discretion rather than ostentation. Of particular note: the ‘Nin’ console (above) embodies an almost totem-esque aesthetic with its carved wooden base and curvaceous lines; and the more petite, cube-like Oko side table bears an almost edible high-gloss glaze.
The Socialite Family
For one week only, and taking advantage of a period in between the previous owner vacating the apartment and the new owner moving in, The Socialite Family curated and presented ‘La Scopa’ in a classic wood-panelled Parisienne apartment on rue de l'Université. Imagined by the founder and artistic director of the brand, Constance Gennari, the curated display of furniture, homeware and art drew its inspiration from the theme of gaming (La Scopa being a centuries-old Italian game). Throughout the apartment, the latest pieces from The Socialite Family are ‘intertwined’ with items selected by Gennari in collaboration with the Puces de Saint-Owen. Arguably, the baby-blue and red pinstripe modular sofa ‘Rotondo’ stole the show.
Tolix
The original and now iconic galvanised ‘Tolix’ chair was first designed by Xavier Pauchard in 1934. More recently the late designer Pauline Deltour penned the first pieces of the ‘Patio’ collection for the brand – the considered design lines, material finishes, and colours providing Deltour’s unmistakable signature. After her death in 2021, the collection remained unfinished, and in 2023 her team was able to carefully complete it. Showcased during Paris Design Week 2024 at the Septieme Gallery on rue de l'Université, the complete ‘Patio’ collection looked effortlessly elegant en famille.
Ligne Roset
The French design brand Ligne Roset announced that it will be releasing a series of 18 designs by the late midcentury designer Pierre Guariche, through Cinna, part of the Roset Group. Creative director Michel Roset explains that the brand has been working to bring this collection to fruition for ‘several years’, adding that ‘Pierre Guariche naturally finds his place’ at Ligne Roset, a company that represents more than 50 years of avant-garde design. Amongst the stellar line-up of pieces, look out for the fabulously horizontal and elegant ‘Vallée Blanche’ chaise longue, originally designed in 1963 and oozing panache. The first pieces will be available from May 2024.
Project 213A
Founded in 2020 by four friends who share a common philosophy for sustainable and well-crafted design, Project 213A creates modern furniture and homeware that’s influenced by what the team describe as ‘unexpected and unconventional inputs’. It uses characterful materials and local craftsmen in Northern Portugal to create its designs. For its first appearance at Paris Design Week, Project 213A brought a range of lighting, artisanal ceramic furniture, and hand-crafted wooden pieces, including its ‘Mirror’ lounge chair, and new designs such as the ‘Porto’ modular sofa.
Little Greene
From its verdant painted showroom on the rue Bonaparte, Little Greene was catching the attention of design week visitors and enticing them to discover the equally bright hues of the ‘National Trust Papers IV’, the fourth instalment of wallpaper designs imagined in collaboration with The National Trust. From wallpaper found at Arts & Crafts gem Standed House (Spring Flowers, c.1910) to a small-scale pattern discovered – rather unusually – in former staff attic rooms at Felbrigg Hall (Ditsy Block, c.1900), eight designs capture a range of botanical styles in a plethora of freshly imagined, contemporary colourways.
Rubelli
Led by its new creative directors, Formafantasma, the 130-year-old fabric and wallpaper design house Rubelli has shaken things up with its new ‘Gardens’ collection – literal and abstract new botanical-themed designs in a sprinkling of sherbet hues. ‘Gardens’ hones in on what Rubelli describes as ‘one of the most archetypal, era-spawning themes of textiles: the botanical theme’. It’s a proverbial blooming bouquet.
Hermès
Hermès launched a new tableware collection designed under the artistic direction of Benoît-Pierre Emery. Playing with figuration, abstraction and pattern scales, the fine drawings, which are inspired by equestrian braiding and drawn by Virginie Jamin, are coloured in what Hermès describes as ‘tangy’ colours – lemon and mint contrast with petrol blue and the neutral colour shades so often found in natural leathers.
Fromental
Fromental worked alongside Marta Sala Éditions to present ‘The New Guilded Age’ in a series of decorated and curated rooms within a Saint Germain apartment on rue Jacob. Four distinctive Fromental wallcoverings – Haiku (a bronze metallic tea paper with Japanese-inspired flora and fauna), Molten (a woodbine silk/linen mix with green Japanese glass beads), Equus (a sumptuous velvet with gestural brushstrokes), and Kiku Garden (an elegant botanical graphic on gilded paper or silk) – set the backdrop in four rooms, with Marta Sala Éditions furniture arranged throughout.
