Paris Design Week Preview: Maison&Objet and Beyond

Paris Design Week has a particular advantage: Paris. From September 10–19, the city becomes a backdrop for an exceptional mix of furniture, design, craft, and installations. Projects of interest tend to make use of that setting, placing new work against old stone, pushing traditional techniques in fresh directions, or giving familiar interiors a jolt. While the big draw that is Maison&Objet necessitates a 25–45 minute trip to Paris Nord Villepinte, much of Paris Design Week occurs in the city itself, near all the hotels, restaurants, and shops worth seeking out. The old analogy that Paris unfurls like a snail from its ancient heart around the Île de la Cité is in play, as many of the most exciting of the hundreds of events will happen within the criss-crossable numbered arrondissements.

But first, Maison&Objet. The enormous trade fair returns September 10–14 under the theme “Pulse in Motion,” bringing over 1,700 brands together across four halls and seven sectors. Masquespacio, the Valencia creative studio founded by Ana Milena Hernández and Christophe Penasse, has been named ambassador for both Maison&Objet Pulse and Paris Design Week this season. The studio will create one installation at Villepinte and another in central Paris, neatly linking the convention-hall scale of Maison&Objet with the citywide pleasures of Design Week.

For the 2026 Rising Talent Awards, Maison&Objet has turned to South Africa, selecting designers and studios to create individual carte-blanche installations. Ashleigh Lloyd transforms rope into sculptural seating and lighting, while Oageng Manana and Tshegofatso Ramothibe of Meetlo Studio bring cultural heritage into contemporary dialogue. Siyanda Mbele of Pinda Interior Design works with color, geometry, and Ndebele-inspired motifs. And Future On Stage spotlights three young brands—Baguette Studio, LightMass, and Risette—recognized this year for innovative approaches to objects, lighting, and experience.

Paris Design Week at large will be borrowing from the city’s architecture. At the Grand Palais, Uchronia’s Le Grand Bouquet grows directly out of the Rotonde d’Antin, transforming the floral mosaic underfoot and vegetal moldings overhead into a gigantic illuminated flower. Galerie Creative Mind Joseph Walsh takes over the Hôtel de Sully for Arcanum Formae, filling the 17th-century hôtel particulier’s grounds with new work that pushes his fluid approach to wood into sculptural territory. Place de la Concorde offers a two-for-one at the Hôtel de la Marine: “Hanjimania” brings French and Korean designers together around traditional hanji paper, while Maison Lacmé’s Astre Mobile turns a transparent automobile into a rolling cabinet of curiosities incorporating onyx, porcelain, embroidery, and other feats of French craftsmanship.

Louis Vuitton is using the week to look backward and forward at once, filling Hôtel Particulier Martignac in the 7th with archival illustrations and early trunks set alongside its Home and Objets Nomades collections. At the center is the new Kubic armchair, a boldly geometric tribute to Art Deco brand collaborator Pierre Legrain. Meanwhile, at its 30 Rue de 30 rue de Prony headquarters, Lalique unveils its Fall–Winter 2026 collections, led by “Alizé,” a new lighting family in which pleated crystal mimics fabric caught in a breeze. The illusion continues with “Teddy Air,” whose rounded crystal bears reproduce the puckers and folds of an inflatable balloon, while “Papillons” has clouds of delicately modeled butterflies.

Then there are the showrooms. Cassina’s 2026 collection includes Patricia Urquiola’s new Ardys system, a low-slung modular sofa whose deeply stitched, generously padded sections resemble a sophisticated quilt. Nearby, the new Galerie Andrée Putman draws from the designer’s formidable archive while mixing reissues with more current work. Pierre Frey’s space on rue du Mail brings together pieces by Christian Haas, RDAI, Studioparisien, Garnier & Linker, Tristan Auer, and others in a setting conceived like a Paris apartment. Just down the street, Lelièvre Paris presents Empreintes, its collaboration with Maison Leleu.

Victoria Wilmotte goes in the opposite direction at 38 rue Madame, turning furniture, lighting, and architecture into the immersive monochromatic landscape Blue Chrome. Galerie BSL pairs Pia Maria Raeder’s uncanny Sea Anemone works with Zbeul Studio’s Archeologia seating in “Organic Frequencies.” One new Raeder mirror alone is assembled from 11,000 white-lacquered beechwood rods and three mirrors. Scène Ouverte marks ten years by asking its artists for new work rather than indulging in a retrospective, while Carpenters Workshop Gallery brings Frederik Molenschot’s “City Light Sable” into its Marais space. Maison Pouenat, meanwhile, shows Haddou & Dufourcq’s “Cosmo,” where twisted and undulating aluminum give tables, seating, and lighting a weightless quality. And the Apartments trail makes the showroom concept intimate, opening spaces by Charlotte Biltgen, Laclaux with Chloé Nègre, Fleur Delesalle, Arrogant Verneuil, House of Cassandre, Franck Genser, and Ateliers Berger to visitors.

Museums naturally participate too. At the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, “Paris > Kyoto > Paris” disperses works and installations by Nina Fradet, Tony Jouanneau, Felipe Ribon, and Marion Vidal, all developed after residencies at Kyoto’s Villa Kujoyama. Anthony Guerrée stages dialogue at the Musée Bourdelle, where “Contrepoint” translates curves and volumes borrowed from Antoine Bourdelle’s sculpture into decor that throws colored light. Institut Polonais introduces “The Matter of Earth,” devoted to a new generation of Polish collectible design and craft. The Institut du Monde Arabe offers two more places to look for what comes next, presenting the finalists for its 2026 Design Prize alongside “AlUla, design d’un territoire vivant,” an exhibition tracing how designers are responding to the landscape, materials, climate, and needs of the desert.

As for where to stay, a recent crop of openings and makeovers gives design lovers reasons to stay close to the action. In Pigalle, the legendary Bus Palladium has been reborn as a five-star hotel without entirely relinquishing its former life. Studio KO layers raw concrete and cork with powder-pink carpeting and serious sound equipment. Near the Arc de Triomphe, L’Aventure divides its personality between Martin Brudnizki’s richly ornamented restaurant and underground members’ club and 15 fantastical rooms by Vincent Darré. Those who opt for the Marais can check into Experimental Marais, where Tristan Auer has transformed 43 rooms and suites—as well as the soaring Temple & Chapon restaurant—through a mix of ecclesiastical references, New York glamour, and imagined souvenirs. And just off Place Vendôme, Maison Barrière Vendôme’s rooms, suites, and apartments pay tribute to a cast of formidable women, among them Josephine Baker, Nina Simone, Agatha Christie, Audrey Hepburn, and Mata Hari.

And no Paris Design week should go by without time for the restaurants. In the 10th arrondissement, Michelin-starred chef Omar Dhiab’s Elbi draws on his Egyptian and Tunisian family roots for dishes meant to be shared in a pared-back room, where an open kitchen takes center stage. Across the river in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Martin Maumet has grounded the menu in classic French technique and seasonal ingredients before waking things up with the spices, vinegars, and pepper. Studio Bateaumagne’s warm oak and striped Dedar fabrics make the room worthy of attention between courses. Near Les Invalides, Romain Meder’s Prévelle earned a Michelin star in 2026 for the chef’s highly personal, vegetable-led cooking. Over in the 4th, Boubalé at Le Grand Mazarin is neatly placed for Design Week wandering, pairing Martin Brudnizki’s exuberant, Byzantine-inflected interiors with a menu that travels between Eastern Europe and the Levant. And for anyone already staying at Experimental Marais—or seeking an excuse to stop there—Temple & Chapon channels the swagger of a 1950s New York chop house.