Why Matter and Shape Is the Design World’s Favorite Fashion Week Detour

If Paris Fashion Week is about silhouettes and exacting stitches, Matter and Shape is about everything that undergirds them: the chair one collapses into after a show, the glass that’s raised in a toast, or the light fixture that casts an ambient glow over an afterparty. From March 6–9, the design salon returns to the Jardin des Tuileries for its third edition, transforming two pavilions into a temporary city of objects.

Under the curatorial eye of the fair’s artistic director Dan Thawley and founder Matthieu Pinet, the showcase has positioned itself as fashion week’s design-literate pause. The models on this fair floor aren’t strutting through the space, but all the better to see their details up close.

This year’s theme, “scale,” prompts visitors to think both smaller and wider—of the micro gestures of craft and the macro systems behind how these pieces are made. Aside from examining the physical volume artists choose to work in, it also asks, How does human capital affect the scale of production of an object? With this question in mind, the show explores contemporary designs achieved through ethical and sustainable practices. Across more than 4,000 square meters, collectible design will sit beside practical luxury (think Ann Demeulemeester’s Serax homeware) and emerging studios alongside contemporary mainstays (22 System by Bocci), in a deliberately transversal mix that mirrors the way we actually live.

After Dior’s runway and before Louis Vuitton’s, Matter and Shape sets up its singular locus for passing viewers. Sample exhibitors will include lighting by Lindsey Adelman Studio, a reading room developed with Saudi-French cultural institution Villa Hegra, and a collaboration with Byredo, which has its fragrances diffused throughout the fair. The Zara Home x Dreamin’ Man café also returns, joined this year by a new dine-in restaurant concept from Balbosté.

The Matter and Shape design fair will be open to the public from March 6-9 at La Caserne –12 rue Philippe de Girard. Registration for tickets is available here.