MAISON&OBJET announces new additions, 2012 Designers of the Year

Casual Living Staff -- Casual Living, 7/25/2012 10:38:05 AM

PARIS — MAISON&OBJET, an international home fashion trade show held twice a year in Paris, has announced new initiatives focused on accessories and outdoor décor for its upcoming exhibition Sept. 7-11.

In the outdoor category, the show announced it will further develop its OUTDOOR_INDOOR section. For the past five years, MAISON&OBJET OUTDOOR_INDOOR has reflected the trend of bringing interior design outdoors. The range of products available has widened in just a few years to emphasize creative and stylistic diversity, and its development will now form part of MAISON&OBJET's diversification strategy, according to a press release.

MAISON&OBJET will also launch Zoom, a new 4,000-square-meter space at the end of Hall 6 that will showcase innovative exhibitors from the various accessory sectors. This subjective selection of 200 exhibitors will be re-examined each year to provide visitors with an exclusive panorama of accessories and an indicator of upcoming trends.

MAISON&OBJET also announced its 2012 Designers of the Year : Fernando and Humberto Campana, Hubert le Gall and Tokujin Yoshioka.

Brothers Humberto and Fernando Campana's design origins date back to the 1980s, when Humberto set up a small studio of hand-made products. An architecture student, Fernando was interested in researching alternative methods for design materialization. Their first exhibition as a duo took place in 1989 in São Paulo. In 2009, Estúdio Campana was chosen to celebrate its anniversary at the Vitra Design Museum in Germany. The brothers were awarded the Special Prize at the Museu da Casa Brasileira (Brazilian House Museum) in 2001, and Designer of the Year by Design Miami in 2008.

A visual artist by training, Hubert le Gall designs sculptural furniture whose functional nature plays a supporting role to its narrative or abstract form. "His approach revisits and brings new meaning to furniture and decorative art," said Élisabeth Delacarte, whose Galerie Avant-Scène in Paris showcases the artist's work. He uses materials such as bronze, plaster, resin, wood, glass and ceramics. He is known for his flower tables, as well as his baseless lamps.

Tokujin Yoshioka has collaborated with companies such as Hermes, BMW, Moroso, Toyota and Lexus. Many of his works are displayed in museums around the world, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Centre National d'Art et de Culture Georges Pompidou in Paris, Victoria and Albert Museum in London, Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum in New York and Vitra Design Museum in Germany. He has received several awards, and was selected by the Japanese edition of Newsweek as one of the 100 most respected Japanese people in the world.

For a complete list of events and exhibitors at MAISON&OBJET's September show, visit maison-objet.com.