\u201cParis is at the heart of a lot of artistic and intellectual thought; it has been for centuries. The history of museums, of making and showing artisanal crafts, is so potent here. To do something in the middle of the city, in the Jardin des Tuileries, was to say that we embrace the feeling of the salon.\u201d For writer and editor Dan Thawley, who is Artistic Director of Matter and Shape, describing the event as a salon in the tradition of European intellectual and artistic gatherings held since the 16th century, rather than a fair or an exhibition, was an important detail. \u201cIt is an idea that is somewhat lost today, but it remains very important to have a place for the exchange of creative thought about design, art, beauty, literature, philosophy, and all of these other things,\u201d Thawley tells me. \u201cI am not saying that we achieve all of those things with Matter and Shape just yet, but the idea is that this is not just a commercial venture. It is also a place for encounters, discussion, meeting new people, and exchanging ideas.\u201d
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\nThawley told me this while seated on one of the two sofas in a sort-of staged living room, set up by Teget designer Ana Kra\u0161, who is showing pieces from her new homeware brand, which includes a collection of fabric sofa slips, paper wall lights, a coffee table, and glass pieces. \u201cI was thinking about things that I need but are hard to find,\u201d Kra\u0161 says. \u201cPieces that can change the mood and twist around the look of a space.\u201d
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\nThere were a broad spectrum of design approaches, scales of, and methods of production at Matter and Shape, with established brands like Alessi, Lobmeyr, and Flos showing alongside independent practitioners, galleries, and projects like Akari Endo, Typ, Artment Dep, Natalia Criado, and Ton Magazine. Sitting between the contexts of a blue-chip trade fair and an exhibition of rare historical collections, Matter and Shape takes the position of design overlapping with all layers of life. \u201cEnthusiasts can come and buy a copy of PIN\u2014UP, they can buy a stool or a blanket, or their first piece of design to add to their home,\u201d Thawley says. \u201cThat is so important to me, because we are all collectors.\u201d
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\nThe space, designed by Willo Perron, includes a restaurant by We are ONA and a shop with selections by Apartmento and Rare Books Paris. Matter and Shape worked with exhibitors, co-creative directing some of the spaces, \u201cconnecting a 100-year old brand with a young designer, or introducing creatives to photographers and set designers who could bring a new look to their work,\u201d Thawley says. \u201cThe goal of this edition was to recognize the different communities who are contributing to contemporary artistry \u2014\u00a0brilliant English makers, craft from Korea, Colombian silverware \u2014\u00a0and to migrate a sense of localism to Matter and Shape.\u201d At Artment.Dep, Minjae Kim designed \u201can exploded tablescape on wheels,\u201d a series of collaborative lamps, tables, vases, and candles that move around the room with you, inspired by traditional Korean objects like oil lamps, silk bedding, and Mother of Pearl.
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\nAt Typ, a publisher of furniture, objects, and editions working with archive pieces and new commissions, they showed two chairs in caramel and milk chocolate hues by designer Klemens Schillinger. Based on the typology of a bistro chair \u2014 one relatively faithful, one blown out into a lounge chair \u2014\u00a0the Tube chairs are made with CNC bent aluminum tubes. Each tube is linked by a connector commonly used in public transport \u2014 the handlebars on the Metro de Paris or London\u2019s elegantly named \u2018tube.\u2019 \u201cThey only allow an octagonal, 90-degree connection, but you can design something dynamic within this constraint,\u201d Schillinger says. \u201cSomething that orients itself on this classic typology that you see at kebab shops, but becomes something new because of the connector.\u201d
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\nAt London-based magazine Ton\u2019s stand, the effort was collaborative, with Ton founder and Editor-in-Chief Jermaine Gallacher and Senior Stylist Madeline Thornalley \u201cpinning things up on the board together, with our roster of lovelies.\u201d Gallacher describes the stand as \u201cthe magazine jumped off the pages\u201d\u2014 a colourful, layered mix of contributions from makers working in a variety of materials, with steel bows by Barnaby Lewis, wobbling, mouth-blown glass by Miranda Keyes, painted, hairy waxed cotton ears by Thornalley, rubber vases by LS Gomma, and a carved, burnt wood throne by Ralph Parks.
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\n\u201cThere has been a resurgence in interest in the applied arts, and a dedication to craft from young people,\u201d Thawley says. \u201cDesign is 360. It is how we live, what we put on our bodies, what we surround ourselves with; what we eat, the fragrance we wear. We are designing our lives every day.\u201d This way of thinking informed how Thawley and Matter and Shape Director Matthieu Pinet envisioned the salon, with everything from the tent to the stands, speakers, seating, shop, and restaurant functioning as part of a \u2018total\u2019 project.
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\nMatter and Shape stemmed from a website Pinet launched 9 years ago as a side project, \u201ca playground\u201d where he built a community of followers interested in his selection of objects, lighting, and furniture pieces that inspired him. His boss at WSN, the events group behind Matter and Shape, heard about the side project and asked if he wanted to transform it into a physical event. Pinet said no \u2014 \u201cDon\u2019t touch my baby\u201d \u2014 but agreed a few months later on the condition of having carte blanche on the project. \u201cThe creative industries are becoming more and more connected,\u201d Pinet says, \u201cAnd it is just the beginning. Design is intersecting with food and fashion \u2014 it was the right moment to bring people together.\u201d
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\nOn the second day of the salon, Matter and Shape had hosted three times the number of visitors they were expecting, and Pinet and Thawley were already planning for future editions and other ways of engaging with people outside of the salon tent. \u201cThe idea that it can transform; that it can decontextualize in another city; that it can be smaller; that it can be supporting young designers doing all sorts of different things, is super important,\u201d Thawley says. \u201cIt isn\u2019t just an annual encounter.\u201d<\/div><\/div>
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