International news

Paris Design Week

If Paris needed yet another reason to visit, the Ile-de-France Regional Council and SAFI in partnership with the French Ministry of Trade, Crafts and Tourism opened the doors to a unique event in September: Paris Design Week - "an event proposing a transversal vision of design in its broadest sense, from furniture creation to graphic design, interior architecture, decorative arts and even gastronomy." (E. Cochet, SAFI CEO)

In over a hundred locations, from Charles de Gaule-Etoile to the François Mitterrand National Library, from Poissonière to Denfert-Rochereau, established designers alongside 70 young designers set the tone for the avant-garde in the field.

While Bastille - République, Champs-Elysées - Trocadéro, Les Halles - Marais, Madeleine - Opéra and Saint-Germain were classic locations for fashion design, gastronomy, decoration and art, La Cité de la Mode et du Design, located on the Quai d'Austerlitz, was the center of interior architecture and graphic design. This location is itself a symbol of rising from its own ashes, as is the whole area of the François Mitterrand National Library, once occupied by industry and services. French architects Jakob and McFarlane have brought an old warehouse on the banks of the Seine back to life by 'dressing' it in a 'green' membrane of metal and glass, the result of exploring digital technology and using the two materials to create a flexible and interactive environment.

The avant-garde tone set by the elements on display descend from reinterpreting and reintegrating industrial design elements and repurposing them for the domestic. The young designers rely on simple lines, primary and secondary chromatics, raw or minimally processed materials, atypically put to work to meet the needs of our daily activities.

The timing, in the middle of September - the height of the tourist season - meant that this first edition of Paris Design Work saw a record number of visitors - 60,000 - and confirmed that this creative event will become an annual event, maintaining the same objective: "to disseminate design and innovation in the French industrial fabric and to strengthen the attractiveness of Ile-de-France through actions to promote design" (J.P. Huchon, President of the Ile-de-France Regional Council).