Waiting for the “Tech Eden” of Maison&Objet 2024

In 2024, Maison&Objet (18-22 Jan. 2024) marks 30 years of French-inspired excellence in the home décor, design and lifestyle industry. Marking this occasion, the show will take visitors on a journey to a re-enchanted future, where technology and nature exist in harmony.

Challenging the antithesis in its title, TECH EDEN, the theme of this anniversary year will be explored throughout 2024 at the Paris fair, in the city’s showrooms, and on M.O.M marketplace. It will be embodied in the three areas of expression dear to Maison&Objet: interior architecture, retail, and hospitality.

In continuation of last year’s theme “ENJOY!”, TECH EDEN conveys a dream-like optimism through shape and colour, focussing this time on a futuristic biophilia, a new world of well-being.

Mélanie Leroy, Managing Director, shares:

“Maison&Objet is more attentive than ever to its customers and their needs, positioning itself at the heart of key challenges, now and in the future, by connecting creativity, innovation and eco-responsibility. Our ambition is to illustrate all the opportunities available to the home décor, design and lifestyle sector, and actively support its development. This is reflected in the quality of the programme of events for the upcoming edition: the Designer of the Year's innovative project, the development of a What's New? space providing concrete responses to the challenges in retail, and the Hospitality Lab, embodying a unique forwardlooking vision of the hybridisation of hospitality venues. ”

New futures and paradise regained

Maison&Objet’s 2024 (18-22 Jan. 2024) theme “TECH EDEN” was devised in collaboration with the creative strategy agency Peclers Paris, which sees it as an opportunity to “highlight the profound evolution in the relationship between science and nature, and project it into a sustainable and desirable future.”

Seeking to bring substance and poetry to the notion of progress, Peclers offers a progressive concept enriched by scenographic interpretations, at times soothing, at times energising, always inspiring. This narrative, reconciling a futuristic utopia with new realities, will feed into the show’s activities, encompassing all sectors of interior decoration and design, arts and crafts, retail, decor and hospitality.

Through immersive experiences, TECH EDEN invites professionals to rethink spatial design and layout, augmented by technological innovation, and employing innovative aesthetic and environmental approaches.

Science fiction has entered a new era and adopted a new discourse. It is no longer modelled on the kind of journey through space and time at the mercy of mysterious aliens filmed by Stanley Kubrick in his cult movie 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968).

While James Cameron’s latest epic Avatar 2 (2022) immerses us in a fantastical natural environment, Thomas Cailley’s Animal Kingdom (2023) explores the idea of mutation in a world of half-human, half-animal hybrids, symbolising profound cultural and societal change, all enhanced by a poetic and emotional narrative.

The desire in this new-generation narrative is no longer to reclaim space, but rather an original paradise and a return to a wild existence exalted by scientific progress.

Soft tech as a driver of well-being

As societal crises and tensions reinforce our need to feel at ease in our own homes, cutting-edge technologies are responding with new services inspired by nature and offering a sophisticated version of it. Such is the case with Once Upon a Dream, a capsule room designed by Mathieu Lehanneur for the reopening of Hôtel de Marc. To encourage more restorative sleep, the principle of this ideal room is based on artificial and programmable management of natural day/night cycles.

Reflecting this quest for well-being at home, indeed in all the places we occupy in our everyday lives - the office, a hotel room, even the spa - Maison&Objet  (18-22 Jan. 2024) launched its new ''Well-Being & Beauty'' sector in September 2023, featuring a selection which reconciles feel-good rituals and soft technological innovations to create a cocoon-like feeling at home.

Advances in digital technology, smartphones and tablets with ever more functions, 3D printing processes, the exponential growth of AI (Artificial Intelligence), and numerous connected and increasingly intuitive objects, are also supporting service design and mobility, reinforcing this quest for well-being.

In the words of Jean-Louis Frechin, director and founder of NoDesign.net, as well as an author, teacher at École Camondo in Paris, and specialist in digital design and innovation:

“We are embarking on a fusion between our natural environment and technology. This new natural epoch, the Anthropocene, suffers from imbalances brought on by abuse of technology and reckless use of the planet’s resources, something which must be readjusted. It is through physics, scientific phenomena and the right technologies that designers will be able to develop sustainable and balanced solutions. In the age of Artificial Intelligence, when many objects can be designed and produced automatically, the only question is how we wish to inhabit this world...”

Technophile explorers in search of utopia

“Sensitive explorers are embracing technological advances and using them to develop an augmented, tailor-made form of everyday life, with the goal of creating a soothing, dreamlike environment. ” explain Brune Ouakrat, Strategic Planner & Futurologist, and Charlotte Cazals, Designer & Trend Forecaster at Peclers Paris.

This gives rise to the concept of biophilic design and awakening, sustainable and technological experiments aimed at an emerging tribe brought together by social media.

In a hyper-connected, digitised and physical world where reality and fiction meet, virtual tours and 3D augmentedreality glasses go hand in hand with aromatherapy and light therapy, stimulating all five human senses in the hospitality venues of tomorrow.

Restaurants designed in welcoming “home-like” decor are re-emerging, while the Savoy Palace’s Laurea Spa offers total immersion in greenery, in imitation of Madeira’s legendary forest.

Tomorrow’s consumers are seeking more qualitative experiences, but with great development potential and a resolutely eco-responsible dimension, such as the 3Dprinted hotel project, El Cosmico in Texas, designed in collaboration with BIG, ICON, and Liz Lambert.

Three areas of exploration, to discover at Maison&Objet Paris

TECH EDEN will take place in several different locations, giving expression to its futuristic aesthetics and technological advances, as well as its gentle approach and appetite for a return to biophilia. Venues are becoming hybridised, and their uses more diverse.

• The retail, seen through 3 trends

More than a simple presentation, the “What’s New? In Retail?” space has evolved into a genuine think-tank for the now omni-channel distribution sector, offering a selection of new products, a programme of workshops and conferences, a café, and a wealth of merchandising ideas. François Delclaux will thus present a space for sourcing, inspiration and exchange, in collaboration with the global design agency BETC. The scenography of the venue has been given the softest of designs, where “tech” makes a discreet appearance, expressed by enveloping materials, natural forms, and gentle colours. This will serve as a showcase for three major trends: sustainable minimalism, responsible brutalism (re-use and recycling of materials), and organic fluidity.

• The home as a soothing cocoon

In a post-confinement context, the home, behaviours and practices are being transformed by remote working, opensource technology, and e-commerce. The strong emerging trend in interiors continues: the private residence is regarded as a refuge, a soothing cocoon with a friendly, modular design; the living room becomes an office, while the bathroom is a living room dedicated to well-being. At the show, Elisabeth Leriche’s "What's New? In Decor" trend space will focus on a fresh approach to interior decoration inspired by the theme of the session and translated into patterns, textiles, installations and immersive décor.

• The hospitality sector as an escape pod

At the heart of the “Hospitality Lab”, Peclers Paris will offer three biophilic, immersive and future-focused escape pods in its Trends Forum: awakening, active and regenerative. Each of these will embody one of the facets of a hospitality sector that is constantly evolving and offering new approaches to the beneficial getaway experience: the cafe blends into a well-being space, luxury spas pop up in hotel rooms and offer multi-sensory experiences, and waiting locations such as airports or train stations mutate into sports halls thanks to the latest immersive technologies.