Everything You Need to Know About Maison & Objet 2018: Designers' Impressions

From September 7 to 11, the long-awaited Maison & Objet exhibition took place, where designers and architects from all over the world gathered. We asked professionals about trends, colors, and forms, as well as about finds for small apartments.

What's in trend now?

Marina Novikova, Designer. Founder of Smart Interior Design

The stand of the Scandinavian company bolia.com showcased all the most fashionable colors: mustard, indigo, terracotta, celadon, and dusty pink. The latter, indeed, is now always paired with black.

By the way, the stands were arranged so that the hues naturally formed color schemes: blue and mustard, pink and celadon.

Bolia

Baroque is still abundant, even excessively. However, there's a trend toward rough, textured fabrics like boucle.

I also liked furniture with rattan inserts. Combined with enamel and polished wood, it looks very elegant. Besides, soft rounded combinations are now in style. Even the edges of kitchen furniture have been changed to radii.

Photo: Marina Novikova

Alexey Ivanov, Architect-Designer. Co-founder of Geometrium Studio

Naturalness and minimalism are currently in style — the exhibition featured a lot of wooden bent furniture made from untreated materials, as well as natural and animalistic prints. There was a lot of green not only in paintings but also in decorative elements, and even some walls were green.

Photo: Alexey Ivanov

I liked that there were many paintings that echoed the colors of interiors. Among the colors, I highlighted gold, black, deep blue, and green. Very beautiful combinations are now seen: dark backgrounds are paired with bright contrasting accents — pink, blue, and mustard.

Photo: Alexey Ivanov

Nadia Zотова, Designer. Founder of Enjoy Home Studio. Creates residential and public interiors worldwide from sketches to implementation

In my opinion, all trends were presented at the Milan exhibition. In Paris, the tendency toward pink color is still visible — but there's much less of it now. Instead, there's a lot of warm tones: terracotta, mustard, and olive.

Animalistic prints are still in trend. If you follow the fashion world, you can draw parallels between trends in clothing and interior design.

Dooq

Polina Agafonova, Expert. Senior Designer at Studio "The Design Point"

Now, cork is in trend: it's used to create volumetric wall panels, lighting fixtures, and furniture. Additionally, there are light fixtures, wall panels, accessories, sculptures, curtains, and sheer curtains made from mesh. For decoration, people increasingly use simple field flowers instead of luxurious bouquets.

There's a lot of rough, untreated textures on walls and furniture. Traditional tiles have been replaced with volumetric textured ones. By the way, pink is out of fashion — terracotta has taken its place.

Favorite Stands of Our Designers

We asked designers which stands and brands they remembered most. It turned out that vintage and basic interior items are winning — these are essential for every home.

Dooq

The Portuguese company showcased furniture that perfectly fits the 70s trend on its stand.

Aromas

Famous Spanish workshop that creates designer lighting fixtures showed modern forms. “A worthy alternative to vintage with Saint Juan, for those who don’t like it for some reason,” — Marina Novikova says.

Urban Nature Culture

Many home accessories with minimalist design — tableware, textiles, and decorative elements. Manufacturers lately focus on clean forms but interesting content — color, print, texture.

Scanddyy

Lacquered, comfortable Swedish sofas are an excellent base for any interior. “Just don’t choose traditional wicker; better go with velvet, suede, and boucle fabric,” — Marina Novikova advises.

Seletti

Italian brand, as always, amazes with its wide variety of colors.

Useful Finds for Small Apartments

We asked Marina Novikova what to choose for owners of small apartments. Several suitable options were found at the exhibition.

“First and foremost, furniture with rounded forms — this is exactly in style now. It makes the space softer and protects you from accidental collisions. Also, I recommend tall wardrobes and buffets — about 2 meters high. They save space in small rooms, and one large table lamp or floor lamp can visually expand the room,” — the designer shares.

Aromas