For 10 days, Paris celebrated the best in creation and design. Galleries, schools, studios and workshops offered a chance to discover a range of contemporary collections. Situated all across the city, these shows invited both professionals and the general public to unearth new artists and new trends.
The French capital was divided into three geographical zones: Rive Gauche / Opéra, Concorde and Étoile / Palais-Royal, Marais and Bastille. Within this circuit, there was an exhibition of works and street shows to attract attention to the surrounding interior spaces.
The Paris Design Week Factory is a space for emerging designers to showcase their work and connect with potential clients and collaborators. The initiative was held at two locations: the Espace Commines houses an exhibition of gallery design under the curation of an expert while the Galerie Joseph Froissart presents a panorama of the young French and International design scene. The Factory hosted a variety of events, including exhibitions, workshops, and talks, with the goal to create a vibrant and collaborative environment where emerging designers could develop their skills and build their networks.
Overlapping the Maison & Object Paris September show and uniting the French and an increasingly international design community, the Paris Design Week city becomes immersed in promenades, cocktails, exhibitions… culminating into the celebration of emerging talents and offering a cross-disciplinary vision of design, from furniture creation to interior architecture and the decorative arts.
Aimed at design professionals and amateurs, as well as those looking for inspiration, Paris Design Week provides an opportunity to meet designers during exhibitions. It involves walking between several places to discover works by new talented designers, admire those of famous designers and discover opportunities to talk about issues and challenges in the design world by looking at themes such as the environmental impact of objects and materials used.
Inside the Galerie Joseph the atmosphere was perfect, the space itself was spacious and beautiful and the stands were organized perfectly. The experience for us was incredible, not only because of the support provided by the organization but also because of the atmosphere of mutual help and partnership with the other exhibitors.
Since the assembly phase, the atmosphere was one of total cooperation and mutual help and even though everyone was busy and in a hurry to complete their projects, the spirit was always one of great complicity and enthusiasm. And as each person finished their stand, they took a few minutes to appreciate their "neighbor's" stand and exchange some words of encouragement. And this encouragement was essential, especially when we are in the middle of assembling light but considerable slabs of marble, after a plane trip in the early hours of the morning... And it was in this sphere of total empathy between everyone that we saw our pieces exposed for the first time, in perfect harmony between the shine of the marble side table and the cozy light of a lamp or the warm flame of a candle.
Gir Gir was flanked by the very talented and kind Selma Lazrak who develops a beautiful work that revolves around the intersection of design, identity, and territory, spanning from object design to architecture. Selma also shares with Gir Gir the concern and enthusiasm for sustainable design and therefore it was a happy accident of fate.
We also have the presence of the sought-after Alexandre Labruyère, with his pieces with curved and delicate lines in total communion with nature, as if each object could have been collected from a forest.
And we couldn't help but mention, in this thankless summary that lacks words to express how rewarding those days were, the fragrant installation Les Eaux Primordiales, with such a sensorial setting as interactive. A work that appeals to all the senses, where smell is just a first step towards this experience.
Are you a Design lover? Passionate about creative and unique pieces? Then, you came to the right place