2011 Maison & Objet Trends

 

“What if we turned up the volume on sense and the senses, sensations and emotions, in order to experience all the intensity of existence?”

With Maison et Objet opening in one week, this is the trend question that M&O’s Observatory has posed. In answer to the question, they chose Intensity as the theme for January’s 2011 trend edition. They noted that in a time of tension, we want to live more and better. The home has fallen in line with the desire to benefit fully from life. New energies are paying tribute to heightened, sometimes extreme experiences as we move up Maslow’s pyramid; encouraging letting go and savoring the pleasure of living in 3-D. It’s about a total immersion into a heightened, but very real reality.

 As always, M&O Observatory has called on three of the best trend forecasting agencies in the world to stage their interpretations of the theme. Here’s what Design Confidential will be seeing next week when Maison et Objet opens.

 Un-plugged. François Bernard

Let go

It is urgent that we let go in order to escape the pressures of our culture of speed and standardization. People are unplugging, slowing down, and cultivating the joyful frugality of ages past. The new luxury looks to simplified creature comforts. We are rediscovering a taste for the near and known and a local flavor. Period pieces are revitalizing the archives of folklore and archetypal forms. Without nostalgia, but with modesty, we are awakening the intense pleasure of the present moment.

Carlo Trevansi

Hypnotic. Vincent Grégoire pour NellyRodi

Time of transformation

Come enter a time of transformation without fear. Motion, light, and 3-D effects are revitalizing spaces, revealing new perspectives. An angular, fractal geometry is reconfiguring a kinetic aesthetic that is troubling our gaze. Complex, fragmented forms are mixing it up. Mirror reflections are heightening reality. Techno-sensitive engineering is programming a magical narrative that is reactivating emotions and intensifying everyday life.

Hypnotic Paper Chair- Mathias Bemgtsson

Lianna Sheppard Dress

Haute Tension. Elizabeth Leriche

Moments of intensity

We are requisitioning all the senses in order to experience moments of intensity and intensified emotions. Design is blowing hot and cold, modulating between heavy and light, varying the intensity of light and colors, increasing the tactile effects of surprising materials. Scents and sounds are stimulating the sensorial and the sensitive. A techno-poetry is ushering in enriched well-being and heightened sensuality. Another world, intense and thrilling, is on the horizon.