Design Daily: Top Trends at Maison & Objet 2013

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‘Tis the season for design. Trade shows and festivals are seemingly a dime a dozen this time of year, and we’re going to stay on top of them to bring you our favorite finds. There were some incredible booths at Maison & Objet, which took place January 18-22 on the outskirts of Paris. Peep our highlighted trends, below, or check out the slideshow of our favorite product designs.

Animal Parts

The Nourritures Premieres exhibition, curated by Elizabeth Leriche, was a meat-free butcher shop. I’m obsessed (and slightly repulsed, but mostly obsessed) with the porcelain plates that look like they’re going to skitter across the table like oversized crabs. I also loved the animal-parts containers as tabletop storage and hanging flasks. Who wouldn‘t love a cork-stopped pig trotter for their next picnic? Parisian artist Nathalie Lété also debuted her boucherie collection, of soft dolls in the shape of meat, at the exhibition. And I loved how Tamara Kostianovsky recreated cuts of meat from cloth.

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 Color Blocking

The color trend popped, striped and ombréed it way across the exhibition space (those might not be verbs, but if color were a living thing, that’s how it would get around).  The color-blocked stools from Finnish company Artek, beloved by modernists everywhere, were on fanciful display as the stool celebrated its 80th anniversary (expect special-edition versions to appear in celebration of the landmark anniversary). I also loved the Marco Sousa Santos W.02 chairs for Branca Lisboa, dipped halfway in rubber for added comfort. The new Ekobo dishware scored color-blocking points for its acid-pop palette, but also fits into another trend for the festival—natural materials (they’re made from bamboo). 

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Natural Materials

Maison & Objet selects three creatives for its Designer of the Year annual award. One of the winning teams, industrial design duo Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby (from the UK) set up a great booth, with a spare marble bench that I will dream about. I love the traditional material reimagined as an uber-modern bench and dining table. Kubedesign took it a step further with its Keope cardboard furniture. And I don’t even know what people would say if they saw my favorite pick for this trend in my house (which could happen). Can you get any more natural than this stuffed-squirrel sconce by Alex Randall

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Check back next week when we bring you the best of the New York International Gift Fair (going on January 26 – 30). 

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