EXCLUSIVE: At Paris Fashion Week, Matter and Shape Doubles Exhibitors, Eyes Growth in New Cities
Envisaged as a key design event to draw a diverse fashion crowd during the hustle of Paris Fashion Week, Matter and Shape has doubled in size from 32 exhibitors to almost 60 and is mulling the idea of expanding into new cities.
Matter and Shape is the brainchild of Matthieu Pinet, who launched it as an online design platform. Having joined trade show organizer WSN in 2022 as managing director of Salon de la Lingerie and Interfilière, he decided to turn it into a physical event.
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On Thursday, the salon’s creative director Dan Thawley, the former editor in chief of A Magazine Curated By, told WWD the organizers are working hard to cultivate the concept of connoisseurship for the fashion and design curious. “It’s for people who can express that they know more about design than just the three coolest sofas and chairs that are out in the market,” he told WWD.
Since the inaugural event, which attracted the participation of Rick Owens, Chitose Abe’s Sacai, Charlotte Chesnais, Delfina Delettrez Fendi and Kym Ellery as exhibitors, Thawley has been on a world tour scouting new creatives and hosting events at Milan Design Week, 3daysofdesign in Copenhagen as well as Design Parade Hyères festival as an official partner.
“I think 2025 and 2026 will be about continuing to explore other capitals. New York is definitely on the radar, but we don’t have anything specific confirmed at this point. But we’re definitely looking to the U.S. and Asian markets as our first ports of of call if we were to set up a Matter and Shape in other cities,” he said.
Sweden’s Byredo, biotech company MycoWorks and U.K.-based Alighieri are some of the industry names that will be showing their design objects at the second edition of Matter and Shape, scheduled to run from March 7 to 10 in the Tuileries Gardens. Returning partners include RDAI, the Paris-based architecture firm founded by Réna Dumas, the late wife of Jean-Louis Dumas, who was chief executive officer of Hermès until 2006, and who died in 2010; Sacai, and Jil Sander for the Jil Sander Design Talks which invites leading designers, architects, and thought leaders to take the stage in recorded sessions that will be released as podcasts in partnership with KoozArch.
This year, Sacai will co-brand a takeaway restaurant in the fair’s Louvre-side pavilion with design pieces and a Japanese-inspired menu, continuing its partnership that began with their Astier de Villatte collaboration booth in 2024.
Sacai, Thawley said, continues to expand its footprint in Paris with the launch of its Rue Cassette headquarters that was celebrated in January with a “matsuri” style food market.
Debuting after the first edition of Design Miami/Paris in 2023, Thawley and Pinet are contributing to the French capital’s reputation as a major hub for international design.
Looking ahead, Thawley said that Matter and Shape’s role is to highlight the eye that the fashion world and its members enjoy into the realm of design. Thawley recalled the role Karl Lagerfeld played in making the Dadaist creations of Ettore Sottsass’ Memphis known worldwide. He also commented on Matthieu Blazy’s work at Bottega Veneta — having forged a collaboration with Italian lighting maker Flos and boundary-pushing projects with the late Gaetano Pesce. Early 20th century couturier Paul Poiret was also known for his interior designs and presented a nautical interiors project during the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs in Paris in 1925, which helped spark the Art Deco movement.
Thawley also highlighted that similar interiors discoveries might emerge from Jil Sander this spring. “Brands like Saridis of Athens, whose furniture has been purchased by both Prada and Jil Sander in the past, are like hidden design gems appreciated by fashion designers around the world,” he said.
“The design talks that we have are with very genuine relationships that Luke and Lucie [Meier] have fostered at Jil Sander with designers like Sabine Marcelis, Sumayya Valli and Formafantasma,” he said.
Other highlights of the fair include rug company Cc-Tapis and Paris-based designer India Mahdavi and Vitra will revisit Jean Prouve’s standard chair — this time with Dedar fabrics and curated by emerging Swiss designer Julie Richoz. The expanded number of exhibitors will be showcased in a space once again designed by L.A.-based Willo Perron of Perron Roettinger Studio. The space now spans 53,820 square feet, up from 32,292 square feet last year to accommodate double the amount of visitors from last year’s 8,000.
“Matter and Shape is different to other design fairs and salons in Europe in that we’re not afraid to show the reedition of the chair that is under a thousand euros that may in another design fair be shown in its original midcentury model, which may cost five or six figures. It’s an interesting thing to show a design or fashion consumer that a design piece that they like may cost less than a handbag,” he said.
This year marks the 100th year anniversary of the International Exhibition of Decorative and Industrial Modern Arts, Paris, 1925. Matter and Shape said it overall drew inspiration from this pivotal moment in design history and the iconic Pavillon de l’Esprit Nouveau, designed by Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret and Amédée Ozenfant.
Thawley said he has personally collected ephemera from the 1925 exhibition that will be exhibited inside the salon, echoing upcoming themes in the design world and institutions across Paris, including the Mobilier National and the Musée des Arts Décoratifs throughout the year. Traditional Viennese glass and chandelier producer J. & L. Lobmeyr will show exact pieces from the 1925 exhibition, while new French design publishing house Fassen will show a re-edition of a 1926 design by Poiret.
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