The new trends of 2026 at the January edition of Maison&Objet
The Parisian fair confirms its role as a trendsetter, balancing experimentation, craftsmanship, and new ways of conceiving space. Lamps, outdoor collections, and sofas meet references to party culture and DJ booths, shaping a vision where innovation and creativity serve everyday life.
The January Maison&Objet fair in Paris ended last week, bringing together new visions, inspiring messages and languages from all over the world. Art and design blended, always maintaining a sharp connection with the industrial sphere, which once again proved capable of presenting a wide range of objects and projects, materials and techniques destined to influence what we will soon see on a broader, more general level.
This is how trends work – paraphrasing Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada: “What appears on the runway eventually reaches the street”. Likewise, what is shown at major fairs such as Maison&Objet will soon find its way, in different forms, into our domestic environments. It is no coincidence, then, that – signalling a close attention to trends and contemporary expectations – the fair brought together the What’s New? section, curated by Rudy Guénaire, François Delclaux and Elizabeth Leriche, who explored, through a selection of objects from the fair, the future environments we will inhabit across hospitality, retail and décor.
On one hand, the Paris fair, as always, captured the attention of the sector. Over five days, 2,300 brands engaged with 67,000 buyers from 148 countries, shaping a show defined by excellence, craftsmanship and a distinctly French sense of elegance, while fostering a vibrant and dynamic business atmosphere.
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On the other hand, Nuriev’s vision frames design as a process of transformation rather than invention, positioning history, existing forms and cultural memory as active materials rather than references. Through Transformism, the past is approached as a shared archive accumulated over decades of design, art and philosophy, already saturated with forms, colours and meanings. Instead of producing the new, the project focuses on reactivation and reinterpretation, allowing familiar and overlooked objects to regain relevance through new contexts and compositions.
This philosophy translates into an immersive installation built through accumulation: hundreds of collected, archived and found elements assembled into a dense and reflective environment. Silver and mirrored surfaces amplify the idea of reflection, not only as a material condition but as a social and cultural act, involving the individual within a collective space. The installation resists a single reading, favouring emotional engagement over formal clarity, and aligns with Nuriev’s idea of a contemporary shift from industrial value to a feeling-based economy, where beauty functions as an immediate, shared and instinctive language.
The keywords of this edition? Light, quiet, subtle elements – but also craftsmanship, design methodology, modularity, and shiny, sculptural accents of luxury redefining an artistic approach to the project field. What captured our attention is the breadth of the selection, moving between territorial identity and skilled craftsmanship, and blending industrial precision with creativity and references to the past.
Maison&Objet Highlights:
SENIMO / Curatio
Within the contemplative Curatio village – an immersive and gallery-like platform curated by German designer and artistic director Thomas Haarmann – design becomes a quiet dialogue between material intention, craft and narrative rather than mere commercial display. Curatio returns at Maison&Objet 2026 with some 60 signed pieces that reflect a careful balance of refined aesthetics and artisanal integrity, offering visitors a moment of slowed engagement with collectible design where each work reveals its context and meaning rather than competing for attention.
In this setting, SENIMO’s LANZA Deckchair and ALBA Bearing, by craftsman-designer Fabien Colomines, stand out for their tactile simplicity and sculptural clarity. Produced in limited quantities, each piece is carefully crafted in wood – limed, raw or lacquered – where the recurring language of curves defines harmonious volumes while allowing a considered palette of colours to emerge. The LANZA and ALBA pieces articulate a bold yet sensitive aesthetic, bridging graphic strength with a material honesty rooted in Colomines’ training with the Compagnons du Devoir and his commitment to a contemporary furniture practice where craftsmanship remains central to conceptual and formal expression.
Strata Modular Sofa, Aeon Prox by Pieter Maes x Boon_Editions / Curatio
Can form follow feelings? This question lies at the core of Aeon Prox, the collection designed by Pieter Maes for Boon_Editions and presented at Curatio. Within the series, the Strata Modular Sofa stands out as part of a limited edition of marble furniture and seating, unified by a shared sculptural language.
Sharp and curved elements coexist, alternating elegance and softness, precision and playfulness. Unexpected details interrupt the solidity of the material, pushing the sofa – and the collection as a whole – into a space where art and design overlap. Comfort is reinterpreted through weight, surface and proportion rather than convention.
The project also reflects a balanced dialogue between brand and designer. Paris-based, Antwerp-born and a graduate of the Design Academy Eindhoven, Maes grounds his work in an instinctive reading of ancient artefacts and timeless forms, translating them into contemporary objects with a tactile, sculptural sensibility.
Patch by Lucas Zito / Curatio
Patch is a collection that prioritises process over form, focusing on the moment just before an object is considered finished. Its aesthetic emerges from this intermediate stage of construction, when structures remain visible and unresolved, yet already functional.
Each piece is imagined by Lucas Zito as a whole, then divided into multiple sections to comply with the constraints of 3D printing. Although the surfaces appear smooth and uniform, they retain the marks of manual intervention: filler and sanding are not concealed, but embraced as integral to the project’s identity. The cuts, later reassembled, are deliberately left visible, turning joints into defining visual and structural features. What begins as a technical necessity becomes a design opportunity, positioning Patch as a manifesto of the work-in-progress.
Solis by Jette Scheib x Forestier
Lighting played a central role at this edition of the fair, defined by subtle elements inhabiting space as quiet presences within the home. Solis embodies this approach. Designed by Jette Scheib for Forestier, it is a suspension lamp rooted in a sensitive, artisanal vision of light, where passion, freedom and discovery inform both form and material. Conceived as an object that carries poetry as much as function, it balances design and craftsmanship with a strong yet accessible identity.
Echoing the sun in both name and spirit, Solis diffuses a soft, organic glow through a delicate weave of natural fibres cultivated under sunlight and shaped through artisanal know-how in the Philippines. Its forms evoke seeds, fruits or radiant celestial bodies, introducing warmth, tactility and a gentle sense of movement.
Metro by Piovenefabi x valerie_objects
First presented at the 2017 Chicago Architecture Biennial by Galleria Maniera, the Metro lamp collection by Piovenefabi reinterprets the visual and architectural identity of the Milan underground, inaugurated in 1964 and designed by Albini, Helg and Noorda.
Graphic signs, structural elements and surfaces are abstracted into a single material language and rescaled for everyday use, preserving the modernist imagination of the original system. Developed in collaboration with Fondazione Albini, Metroricerche and Giovanna Silva, with contributions from Mariotti Fulget and CR-Design, the project is now produced by Belgian brand valerie_objects, marking its transition from collectible design to functional object.
Chain Light by Barratt & Maxine
Chain Light is a modular lighting system developed for Barratt & Maxine in collaboration with Marshia Tijssen, launched in April 2025 during Milan Design Week and now industrialized and customizable. Presented at Maison&Objet, is a clear expression of the brand’s identity. The project translates light into a piece of jewellery for the home, reflecting the founders’ background in both lighting and jewellery design.
The chain motif lies at the heart of the concept: a symbol of connection, reimagined by integrating light directly into each link. The result is an elegant yet assertive lighting object where craftsmanship and innovation intersect, blurring the line between adornment and illumination.
Lorvain by Snoc / Outdoor
Gathering 50 leading international brands in a single, thoughtfully organized space, the Outdoor section offered visitors a seamless overview of the latest in furniture, pergolas, lighting, rugs and accessories, alongside technical solutions tailored to hospitality, fine dining, high-end residential and yachting. Also, having all exhibitors of this field in close proximity made it easier to explore emerging trends, innovations and material approaches, highlighting how creativity and craftsmanship are shaping exterior environments.
Within this dynamic context, in a monumental booth developed by Milan-based studio Klaas – emphasising the tactile dimension at the core of the brand – Snoc Outdoor presented Lorvain, a collection of sofas, armchairs and coffee tables designed by LualdiMeraldi Studio. The defining element is rope, which translates the brand’s language through an interplay of form, light and tactile nuance, offering a contemporary vision of outdoor living.
A stony aesthetic and subtle nuances act as a fil rouge connecting brand, designer and a shared vision of ethereal substance. The collection is defined by robust clarity and composed contours: strong aluminium profiles and calm, confident lines give the pieces a grounded presence, while balanced proportions keep the overall language refined and restrained.
KORU by Raffaella Mangiarotti for YAAZ / Outdoor
Designed by Raffaella Mangiarotti for YAAZ, Koru is a 2025 outdoor furniture collection featuring upholstered chairs and sunbeds. Lightweight metal structures are paired with soft, generous cushions, balancing structural precision with comfort. The collection draws inspiration from the cyclic and multisensory qualities of nature, translating careful observation of the environment into fluid or geometric forms, tactile finishes, and neutral colour palettes that harmonise with the surrounding landscape while enhancing visual and physical comfort.
YAAZ embraces a design language that values simplicity as both an aesthetic and functional principle: removing the superfluous, simplifying complexity, and creating empathetic connections between object, user and space. The pieces are crafted from durable, high-performance materials – such as teak, aluminium and advanced technical fabrics – ensuring longevity and resistance to the elements. Production combines CNC technology with skilled manual craftsmanship, carried out in Turkey to the highest international standards, guided by an international team of designers and technicians focused on innovation, functionality and formal coherence.
Lodge by Christophe Pillet x Ethimo / Outdoor
Lodge, the collection Ethimo presented under the direction of Christophe Pillet, is shaped around the idea of relaxation in open-air settings, proposing a new way of inhabiting space with comfort at its core. Inspired by nature, the project reflects the authentic charm of untouched landscapes, where warm, earthy tones meet a refined contemporary design defined by generous proportions.
The name evokes the intimate atmosphere of nature-immersed retreats – savannah lodges as places of calm and connection. This sensibility is translated into a collection comprising sofas (also modular), an armchair, a daybed, a pouf and a coffee table with marble, lava stone or matte aluminium tops. A freestanding glossy aluminium structure supports generous cushions in vivid, savannah-inspired colours, shaping an inviting landscape for outdoor living.
Orbette Medium by Ango / Outdoor
Situated somewhere between sculpture and lighting, Orbette Medium is the latest evolution of Ango’s modular pendant system, translating the series’ signature weaving technique and sculptural language into larger, more architectonic proportions. Retaining the infinity-inspired form of the original Orbette, the Medium version introduces an outdoor version crafted in recycled synthetic rattan, bringing the same tactile and sculptural expression to exterior environments.
Handwoven from ultra-fine rattan strands using Ango’s signature random-weave technique by in-house artisans in Thailand, each diffuser feels porous and alive, softly filtering light and casting subtle variations across its surroundings. This light can stand alone as a statement piece or expand into interconnected sculptural compositions, perfect for double-height spaces, hotel lobbies, stairwells, and expansive residential interiors.
DJ Booth by GANDIABLASCO / Outdoor
GANDIABLASCO’s vision – defining outdoor as the new indoor after 34 years of research – is fully expressed in its DJ Booth, presented within the Outdoor selection. Designed as a modular system, the project transforms outdoor spaces into fully equipped stages for music, suitable for both day and night. Engineered to withstand the elements, it combines durability with refined aesthetics and acoustic performance.
Customisable finishes include powder-coated aluminium, digitally printed tempered glass, and iroko wood shelves and drawers. Integrated lighting and connectivity allow the piece to adapt seamlessly to clubs, pools, terraces and gardens across contract, residential and even indoor contexts, bringing party culture into open spaces with a distinctive yet accessible language.
About the author
Ludovica Proietti, journalist, design historian and curator, teaches in universities and curates events, always exploring projects with fresh, unconventional perspectives.
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