The pulse of design: Maison&Objet unveils its new identity
Maison&Objet returns to the French capital with Pulse in Motion, a new theme celebrating creativity as a force for change. From emerging talents and South African designers to citywide installations and Paris Design Week, the fair reaffirms its role as a global platform for contemporary design.
September is the month of restarting, the beginning of the end of the year – and also the month in which the summer edition of Maison&Objet comes back. Returning, in celebration of the French fair’s 30th anniversary, from 10 to 14 September 2026, at Paris Nord Villepinte, the edition promises to focus on the sense of pulse and what it means in the field of design. And from 10 to 19 September, the French capital will host Paris Design Week, opening courtyards, venues and gardens to design and creativity.
Rather than simply changing its name, Maison&Objet is introducing a new identity. From this September onwards, the fair becomes Maison&Objet Pulse, while the January edition will be known as Maison&Objet Premier, marking two complementary moments within the same platform. If January remains dedicated to excellence, craftsmanship and established brands, September wants to express a more experimental chapter: bold, sensitive and sustainable – under this edition’s theme: Pulse in Motion.
The ambition is to renew the vision built in over three decades without changing the fair’s soul, carrying its heritage forward while responding to the evolving needs of the design industry. The impulse that starts here is an aspiration – to use creativity as fuel for imagining new uses, transforming spaces and supporting the sector’s evolution.
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Maison&Objet Pulse:
Pulse in Motion
This idea of Pulse in Motion couldn’t find a better ambassador than the Spanish design studio Masquespacio, returning to Maison&Objet after a year of pause from the design scene. For years, the studio has been defining spaces and objects with a bold and vibrant energy, able to activate connections between past and future while bringing together disciplines such as graphic design, interior design, architecture and product design.
Through their intuitive, expressive and colourful approach, they embody a deeply human vision of design, focused on emotion, materials and experience. This never-ending pulse, impossible to transcend, is precisely why the Mediterranean duo’s direction will become part of the identity of this edition – both through its innovative, playful yet cultural approach and through installations across the city, defining the fair’s identity both inside and outside the Villepinte venue.
Design District: the display for the emergent bold designers
A key area of the fair will remain the Design District, located at the heart of the Decor & Design section, Hall 5A. Defined as a “show within the show“, the selection aims to bring together the most forward-looking energies of contemporary creation. Curated, as in the previous edition, by Hall Haus, the young and energetic collective founded by Abdoulaye Niang, Sammy Bernoussi, Teddy Sanches and Zakari Boukhari, the district brings its signature living design language, enriched by scenography and artistic direction, at the crossroads of cultures, where contemporary aesthetics, sustainable commitment and diverse narratives merge.
“With HALL HAUS, we embrace an identity and a statement. Sometimes we go a bit too far, and so what? Too much yellow? You know it’s HALL HAUS. See you at Maison&Objet in September 2026. What I can tell you is that there will be yellow,” says Sammy Bernoussi, one of the co-founders.
The core mission of the District, however, is to highlight young talent – that’s why it established Future On Stage, an opportunity for three young companies, selected by an expert jury for placing innovation at the core of their approach, to join the fair so that visitors can discover their creations – presented for the first time – and ready to conquer the market. For this seventh edition, the selection was made according to the principles of environmental responsibility, new materialities, innovation in use and the pursuit of emotion, considered the pillars of what should drive the sector today.
Within the context of the fair, we cannot forget the Rising Talent Awards, which this year celebrate South Africa. Between Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban, a new generation of designers is developing singular approaches in which cultural heritage and traditional know-how engage in dialogue with new technologies, local materials and the challenges of tomorrow. In partnership with Decorex Africa, Maison&Objet assembled an international jury of experts to select the most promising talents from this rapidly evolving creative landscape.
Historic venues and open courtyards: Paris Design Week
As with every edition, from 10 to 19 September, Paris Design Week will unfold: a series of events that will animate the city, bringing together long-established and new venues opening especially for the occasion, such as Pierre Frey, Studio Andrée Putman, House of Cassandre, Karen Swami and Galerie Emma Donnersberg. For ten days, the city becomes a vast stage dedicated to contemporary design. Le Marais, Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Opéra and Bastille will host exhibitions, installations, showrooms, galleries, schools and original projects reflecting the vitality of a constantly evolving discipline. Here, collectible design will also take centre stage through a selection of exhibitions and galleries celebrating exceptional objects at the intersection of contemporary creation, craftsmanship and collectible pieces.
This is the moment when the French capital acts like a sponge, welcoming designers and installations from all over the world and hosting them in hidden venues and architectural gems, reinforcing its position as an international crossroads for the field and welcoming creative scenes from Denmark, Poland, Sweden, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Mexico, Guatemala, Finland, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, among others.
The highlights of this edition will also include the takeover of prestigious palaces and institutions such as the Grand Palais, Hôtel de Sully, Hôtel de la Marine, Musée Bourdelle and the French National Archives through the Design Sur Cour (design in courtyards) program. Within this context, will present an exhibition at the Musée Bourdelle in which light, shapes and materials – wood, textiles, glass and clay – give birth to a path of resonance with the sculptures of Antoine Bourdelle.
For Forms of Light, he collaborates with Atelier Toporkoff and Atelier Monier; Woven Forms includes a daybed published by La Chance, reupholstered by Atelier Tissages de Charlieu; finally, Mixed Forms explores clay in collaboration with the Fornace Brioni manufactory, extending into outdoor installations in the museum garden.
Also as part of the Design Sur Cour program, La Re-prise de la Bastille will make its debut. Developed by Claire Renard and Jean-Sébastien Blanc, co-founders of Studio 5.5, in collaboration with Festival du Monde and Refashion, the monumental installation around the July Column at Place de la Bastille, created from used clothing collected through Refashion‘s recycling system, questions the memory of the site – a symbol of freedom and revolution – transforming the space, through textiles, into a place for collective reflection on unity while delivering a strong message in favour of more sustainable and responsible fashion, based on the reuse and sorting of textiles and footwear.
Another interesting stop along the courtyards will be at the historic Arc de Triomphe, where Jeremy Pradier-Jeauneau has conceived La Tempête, an immersive experience offering a contemporary reinterpretation of this emblematic site, revealing its history and architecture from a different and unique perspective, one capable of transforming the ascent of the monument into a sensitive, emotional and spectacular experience, immersing visitors in the artist’s work.
Factory at Le Marais, four scenographic venues open to the city
The Factory will also return, strengthening its role as a key platform for emerging talent through a curated journey across four locations in the Le Marais neighbourhood, under the direction of Jean-Baptiste Durand and Simon Géringer. The avant-garde spirit of this section will take shape at Espace Commines, where the curators have developed a new setting with a site-specific scenography; at 116 rue de Turenne, where, similarly to Espace Commines, the space will be occupied by the work of emerging creators whose pieces will enter into dialogue with one another in a setting designed by the two curators.
At 16 rue des Minimes, where the work of established designers and publishers will come together to present different stages of production, from prototype to finished object; and at 10 rue de Turenne, where, as last year, the China Creative Pavilion will present its new exhibition, BON GOÛT! GOOD TASTE!, exploring the links between sensory taste and aesthetics across cultures, offering a perspective on the country’s contemporary creations at the intersection of design and gastronomy.
With 360 participating venues, more than 540 designers and creators represented, and 23 countries involved in its previous edition, Paris Design Week continues its rise among the world’s leading international design events.
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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