Maison et Objet - September 2008 - The Color Purple

Purple, from greyed out, barely saturated tints to the richest, darkest aubergine, was THE color at September M&O. Key color combinations such as blue/brown and black/white were still in evidence, but in lighting, linens and accessories, companies showcased their most important introduction in shades of purple.


Hall 2 is where all the tabletop and bed linen companies are and there were literally dozens of examples of the purple story to be found here.



The crushed velvet lampshades in this gorgeously-iridescent winey-purple crushed velvet are from Vetrofuso, an Italian company best known for its glassware , while the sweet, chic lilac dining room is part of Guadarte's large stand in Hall 4.




A second room in the Guardarte stand carried through the lilac wall color but punched up the purple palette with this seating ensemble in plum. Love the sky blue accent trim!



An iconic KitchenAid mixer in mulberry was given a place of pride in the company's stand, while over in Hall 5, a display for one of the hundreds of accessory companies featured a deeper shade of the hue.




Esprit has long had a popular home fashions line in Europe, even as its fashion fortunes rose and fell (and rose again) over here in the States. Here various shades of purple were featured in one of the main Fall 08 collections. In the |projets| section of the show, which focuses on products of contract and hospitality specifiers (think of it as a more glamorous, easier to see everything NeoCon) the technically-inclined French textile distributor C.A.C. showed this raffia-textured lilac leather with a slight pearlescent finish.


Lighting continues to a strong design element at the international shows and in keeping with the color trend, there was plenty of purple. On the left in a new ceiling pendant from Dix Hueres Dix, , that creates a beautiful rosette of light. The center is a Swarovski installation, that greeted visitors at the entrance to scenes d'interieur, the "high-style" sector of the show, although this piece did change color every 30 seconds or so. On the right is a pair of soft lilac blush pieces from one of the Hall 4 accessory stands.


And finally, no show over the past seven years or so has not had some type of blue/brown installation, but this collection from Bagnaresi Casa, was the first in a long time where that combo looked fresh and interesting once again.

Photos and text contributed by Susan Schultz

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