Design Takes Center Stage at Paris Art Week with Maison Matisse Launch

During Paris Art Week, design played a supporting yet significant role alongside the main art fair FIAC. The design section at FIAC, reintroduced in 2017 after a seven-year hiatus, featured established Parisian galleries such as Jousse Entreprise, Galerie kreo, LAFFANOUR – Galerie Downtown, Eric Philippe, and Galerie Patrick Seguin, which promoted 20th-century designers like Charlotte Perriand, who is currently the subject of a major retrospective at Fondation Louis Vuitton. However, the contemporary design offerings were limited, focusing on canonical names like Hella Jongerius with few emerging talents, except for Joachim Jirou-Najou at kreo. Off-site, the Art Élysée – Art & Design fair provided a more exploratory space with 13 galleries, mostly French, Belgian, and Swiss, including It's Great Design, Mobilab Gallery, and H. Gallery, though the mix with art galleries sometimes diluted the design focus. A highlight was the launch of Maison Matisse, a new publishing house inspired by Henri Matisse, led by Eliana di Modica with the support of the Matisse family. The project commissions contemporary designers to reinterpret Matisse's legacy, with initial works by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, Jaime Hayon, and Alessandro Mendini, who created vases produced by Bosa and Alessio Sarri. Notably, the Bouroullec brothers designed a 'window' piece evoking Matisse's paintings, transcending the traditional vase form.