New Paris Design Fair To Launch Alongside Fashion Week

Fashion editor Dan Thawley and trade-show executive Mathieu Pinet are creating a new design salon with backing from WSN, the organiser of events including accessory trade show Premiere Classe and fashion fair Who’s Next.

The fair, called “Matter and Shape,” will run alongside Paris Fashion Week and be held in the Tuileries Garden starting February 2024. Pinet will be the trade show’s director while Thawley will serve as creative director.

Positioned as a business-focused fair, Matter and Shape is “an open call to design companies, fashion houses, independent makers, raw material innovators and contemporary galleries to show meaningful displays of product—from limited edition designs to full-scale production—available for immediate and short-lead deliveries worldwide,” the fair’s statement said.

Matter and Shape first started as a digital design platform created by Pinet in 2013. The creation of a physical Paris fair with WSN’s backing comes as interest in designer furniture and homewares exploded in recent years, with events like Milan’s Salone del Mobile attracting high-end shoppers and fashion houses alongside retailers and manufacturers.

Pinet previously created a lingerie salon in Paris, while Thawley was editor-in-chief of “A Magazine Curated By” (as well as contributing fashion reviews to BoF).

”The homewares sector is currently of great interest in many creative fields, not the least being fashion,” Pinet said. “It felt logical to respond to this crossroads by enriching the Paris Fashion Week calendar with a new event.”

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