MAKER’S MARK
Recent furnishings collections are also re-introducing an air of luxury into the home furnishings market. However, this new luxury is not about labels and bling. For some, luxury has become synonymous with traditionally-crafted furnishings, one-off or bespoke furnishings. For others it is the use of subtle metallics, such as rose golds, coppers and brasses, that add an understated sophistication to furnishings.
In fact, when Maison&Objet unveils its trend book Inspirations Book #26 at this month’s furnishings fair, it will offer three perspectives on “new uses and values that are reconfiguring ways of living together.” Maison soothsayer Vincent Grégoire of NellyRodi agency dubbed his exploration Techno Made, which asks: “Is tomorrow’s designer hiding behind an engineer’s white coat? By designing benevolent machines connected to a digital environment, the new algorithms of contemporary comfort invent an enhanced rapport with the world. And [they] foretell of brand new life experiments that strengthen our well-being and autonomy.”
Nature Made by François Bernard of French agency Croisements takes a look at how future interiors will “summon the spirit of Mother Nature and dabble in her laws with rather sorcerer-like rituals. Letting chance, experiments and mutations made by these bio-magicians catalyse wondrous things. Thus are born fascinating creations that herald a new generation of objects.”
Bernard goes on to say: “Observing natural phenomena sustains the quest for knowledge and beauty. It leads scientists and designers towards a common experimentation platform. Their work anticipates approaches to manufacturing that mimic or utilise the ways living things develop, to recreate their fascinating magic and spontaneous mutations.”
Finally, Parisian consultant Elizabeth Leriche chooses to delve into the arena of Human Made, which she says goes hand-in-hand with modern conceptions of luxury. “The hand, the tool of a new luxury, touches and transforms,” she states. “From the alphabet of materials and the grammar of technique, the savoir-faire of neo-craftspersons writes sensitive and rare objects. These works demonstrate radical singularity beyond their function. The art of making is freeing the object itself from the mundane, thus giving it the possibility to leave its mark upon time.
“The world of luxury gives new life to its value by bearing witness to the steps required to realise exceptional products,” she goes on to explain. “Similarly, designers overwhelmingly endorse the sensuality and singularity to which such objects give rise, as a counterpoint to globalisation.”
This revised perspective of what luxury is has been slowly evolving in the past few years. While prior seasons were content with equating luxury with ‘ feeling good’ and focusing on ‘enjoying life’, whether that means a soak in the tub, dinner with the family or reading a book. “Nowadays most people associate luxury not so much with opulence as with Bauhaus-like simplicity and more or less classic design items,” says a trend report issued by German furnishings fair IMM-Cologne. “They dream of a carefree and comfortable lifestyle that cultivates understatement rather than grand gestures. And yet, beyond this aesthetically and socially defined convention, another luxury category has established itself as well: the new breed of elegance.”
This new breed often happens to be of artisanal quality and crafted from