This year’s Maison&Objet trend zone was decorated by trend – bureau Nelly Rodi. We met Vincent Gregoire, its creative director, and asked him about consumers’ demands.

– Hello, dear Vincent! It’s our tradition to meet with you everywhere! How do you like Maison&Objet?

– Everything is very exciting: a new fair, lots of new trends, lots of things are changing. It’s very stimulating. I like it!


– I see a lot of energy of you, and we are also very happy to see you again! And thanks to God it’s here at Maison&Objet because usually we meet outside of Paris.

– I travel a lot but sometimes you can find me at Maison&Objet.


– ''Catch me if you can''!

– It’s an important fair and a very important task in my agenda. I don’t want to miss this fair, it’s very stimulating.

– So, Vincent, at the end of 2016 you announced ‘'House of games’'.

– Baroque, rich flowers and patterns, Gucci style…


– How are the games changing or not changing? Or it’s still going on?

– It’s still going on. It’s another game with new rules but its following this influence. The consumers want to play with the system, they want to show their homes, they want to stage their homes, they want to co-create with new distributors, they want our stalls to be more like at home. They still search for inspiration in Internet and social media, so that’s a global way of creativity, energy and stimulation.

And still it’s baroque, the game is still in, it’s happiness and feeling good. Consumers don’t want to clean a mess, they want to organize a mess so they come back to decoration, a theatrical approach of decoration.

– So, their slogan is “enjoy the moment”?

– Yes, enjoy the moment, live something strong, everything is driven by emotions. So, it’s the end of ‘good taste’ or ‘bad taste’, they want something "tasty".
They want something that is story-telling but also story-living or story-feeling.

They want to feel something with home decoration, they don’t want to be surrounded by something too strict or boring. They want their homes to be full of life, even if it’s not perfect so they don’t want perfection, they don’t want to live in an art gallery. So it has to be happy and feel good and positive.


– So, what are the trends as of today?

– Well, it could be an example: the combination of iconic symbols of art and something very useful. Is it to joke? Is it serious? it’s the same for fashion accessories: the mix between art, the elite and the street culture, the pop-culture. But it’s creating something energetic and full of life.

We want life at home, we want to express our personalities, our point of view with furnishing, with fabrics, with the comeback of theatrical approach for home decoration.



– So the emotion is basic?

– Emotion and life. They want something full of life. So they want us to create something full of life.

– What happens with escapism? Because "future is urban", declared by Heimtextil.

– It’s a sort of escapism. It’s a mix of down-to-earth influences and from abroad: digital escapism, folkloric escapism. But they want everything to be joyful and playful so they want to escape the reality.

The reality is boring, dangerous, difficult, but outside it’s more funny and so they are more into new directions, new dimensions where there is life, and happiness and creativity.

Let’s throw away "good taste", "bad taste", they just want something "tasty".


– And what do you advise about trends? I am wondering – what will not be actual anymore? Or everything is mixing?

– Follow your instinct, be yourself, there is nothing out of trends.
For example, for trendy people pink flamingos is the end. We are looking for easy Japanese trends. But is it bad for normal consumers? It’s still full of good vibes and positive energies. It’s like plants and cactuses: people are a bit bored with those things but they don’t want to throw them away.

So don’t feel guilty because you are not in the trends. If you love pink flamingos, if you love pink, follow your instinct and do what you want to do, do what’s yourself, be yourself. So there is no rule in decoration, just be yourself.

The only thing is: take care of the planet. Because otherwise everything is going mad, so we have to take care of the planet. There is one thing we have to keep in mind: we have to worry about tomorrow, be responsible and think about the next step and next generations.

– And what would you advise to young designers to be actual and to be on demand?

– Have fun!


– Have fun, enjoy the moment?

– Learn, imitate, be inspired by the past and then you will find your way through imitation. Play with the heritage, play with the past, play with what happened long ago. The first step is to reproduce, to learn how it’s done. And then you will find your own personality. You will see that imitation is not very stimulating, after you will find your way. Have fun and then you will find your personality.


– So, it’s like jazz?

– It’s like in fashion – you have to learn the fabrics, how it’s done, have to know the technique, have to know the history of art, history of design. And never say "I know better". Be modest, learn, imitate, copy, and then you will find your own expression.


– Thank you very much, Vincent, for your time! It was very nice to meet you!