‘Vivant' is the theme for January's Maison & Objet

Casual Living Staff -- Casual Living, 12/27/2012 3:57:28 PM

PARIS - Maison & Objet has announced the theme for its upcoming trade show - "Vivant," or "Living," a reflection of the vitality of spring.

According to a press release announcing the theme, "The art of living aspires to improve living standards. A digitized and virtual world wants to rediscover a harmonious lifestyle, more firmly based in reality. A new vitality enhances the riches of nature. Creativity helps to reconstitute a world of organic inspiration. The home, a living organism in its own right, also contributes to this revitalization. We are rediscovering the primal force of original food sources. We are exploring means of procuring emotional comfort in which beauty predominates. We are experimenting with new fields of science to establish the hope of a renaissance. Manifesto for a better present with the rally cry: life to the max."

The winter Maison & Objet will take place Jan. 18-22 at the Paris Norde Villepinte exhibition center, featuring seven shows in 135,000 square meters of exhibit space: Maison & Objet scènes d'intérieur; now! design à vivre; Maison & Objet éditeurs; Maison & Objet|projets|; Maison & Objet Outdoor_Indoor; craft, l'espace métiers d'art; and Meuble Paris.

Maison & Objet offers a cross-disciplinary take on all the home-fashion sectors, with four specialist areas: luxury, design, interior design and accessories, presenting the latest in furniture, interior design, arts and crafts, home accessories, fashion accessories, table arts, household textiles, upholstery fabrics/wall paper/wall coverings, architectural solutions, gifts, fragrances and more.

The January 2012 show featured 3,100 exhibitors and drew 85,000 visitors from 137 countries.

Special exhibits related to the "Vivant" theme include:

First food, by Elizabeth Leriche (Hall 1): "From sprouted seeds to meat, from milk and honey to vegetables, salt and bread, humanity's ancestral foods become raw materials for a mouth-watering new aesthetic. Food inspires artists' creativity. The raw and the cooked feed our appetite for authenticity and for subjects with symbolic expressions that transcend nature and emotions that reinvigorate the body and the mind. A shared liturgy that celebrates vital energy and the pleasures of the senses."

Pioneer, by François Bernard (Hall 3): "We feel the need to rethink our ways of life and to reconnect with materiality. New patterns of behavior clear the way to a state of mind that advocates independence and emotional contentment. The search for the beautiful breathes life into a new relationship with time, where everything remains alive. Nothing is old anymore. Natural materials give life to timeless objects, simple and luxurious. The gesture reactivates the grace of making. An entire creative biodynamic in harmony with nature and man."

Renaiscience, by Vincent Grégoire - NellyRodi (Hall 2): "In the strange laboratory of the real, inspired ideas of a revealed nature invigorate creation. A convulsive proliferation, fascinating and astounding, of globules, gaseous states, X-rays, an entanglement of fibers and mould animate a world in perpetual mutation. In the test tubes of Beau Bizarre, the intriguing alchemy distils the lines of a bio-phantasmagoria. Convoluted aesthetics where the science of metamorphoses activates the life force in search of a possible rebirth."

For more about January's Maison & Objet, visit maison-objet.com.