Paris Design Week: Spotlight on Five Brands
Paris Design Week once again transformed the French capital into a hub of creativity, showcasing the latest in design, craft, and innovation. This Paris Design Week: Spotlight on Five Brands brings together the highlights of six names that stood out with their vision and presence: Pierre Frey, Myface, Cassina, Kave Home, Théoreme, and Philippe Hurel. In this Paris Design Week: Spotlight on Five Brands, we’ll dive into how each of these brands celebrated heritage while pushing forward with new ideas—offering a glimpse into the trends shaping design for the year ahead.
Pierre Frey
As always, Pierre Frey leaned into its roots in fabric, wallpaper, rugs, and bespoke furniture, presenting new collections at its showrooms during Paris Design Week.
At the Rive Gauche showroom, a minimalist staging served as a delicate backdrop for its new lines, including MILO, VALLON, and the LITHO dining chairs. The installation used plain sisal carpets, kakemonos in linen, wall coverings such as “AU BORD DU LAC” and “FELINDRA,” and thoughtfully chosen lighting in brass and concrete—creating an atmosphere of calm and craftsmanship with a strong material presence.
Myface Outdoor Design
Myface presented outdoor-furniture creations in 2024 that blended craftsmanship, design, and nature. At Paris Design Week, highlights included the Mo Sofa and pieces from the Terra Preta collection, such as the Ribbon Lounge Armchair, Kai Coffee Table, and Itá Coffee Table.
Cassina
Cassina again demonstrated its expertise in blending iconic design with new work. For Paris Design Week, their showrooms (Rive Gauche and Rive Droite) showcased not just their historic pieces but also new designs, lighting, and accessories.
A major thread was the celebration of the iMaestri Collection, notably in the 50th-anniversary edition via Echoes, Cassina. 50 Years of iMaestri (a book and preview). Another highlight: their collaboration with designers like Patricia Urquiola, for pieces such as Moncloud, which underscores how Cassina continues to invest in interpreting design icons in fresh ways.
Kave Home
Kave Home took a more experiential route this time. In its Paris showroom (on Rue Étienne), the brand hosted an exclusive art installation by French duo Sacrée Frangine, reinterpreting its latest “Here to Stay” campaign.
The installation invited visitors to reflect on the idea of what makes a place a home: the lasting objects, materials, and emotional resonance. In other words, it was less about flashy new furniture and more about atmosphere, memory, and belonging.
This suggests a trend: brands merging storytelling, art, and design in their physical spaces during the week, to go beyond product-launch to concept- or emotion-based engagement. Kave Home nailed that.
Theoreme Editions
Theoreme Editions is known for its sculptural, often minimalist or monolithic aesthetic—objects and furniture with strong material presence. During Paris Design Week, they presented pieces like their Drift Chair, available in finishes such as black-stained oak, American walnut, or light oak, often with interchangeable seat cushions.
Their positioning is interesting: collaborating with contemporary designers and European artisans to deliver designs that feel timeless and rooted in craft. This year’s presentation reinforced that identity: furniture as art, where materials, texture, line, and form are deeply considered.
Key Takeaways & Trends
From the observations of these six brands, a few overall trends emerge:
- Materiality & Craft: Whether it’s wood, textiles, upholstery, or finishes, there’s a renewed emphasis on tangible quality. Brands like Theoreme, Myface, and Pierre Frey lean into material texture, artisanal tradition, and detail.
- Heritage meets Innovation: Brands historically associated with classic design (Pierre Frey, Cassina, Philippe Hurel) continue to evolve, not necessarily abandoning their roots but reinterpreting them — new colorways, subtler patterns, clean lines, reinterpretation of archival work.
- Experience & Storytelling: Installations and showroom displays are increasingly less about just showing new products and more about immersing visitors—triggering emotion, connection, experience. Kave Home’s art installation, Myface’s way of presenting outdoor furniture that feels like part of a setting, etc.
- Minimalism with Warmth: Even within minimal or sculptural design, there’s warmth — from wood tones, textiles, tactile surfaces — so that spaces feel inviting, not sterile.
- Outdoor-oriented & Flexible: Myface is a good example of outdoor furniture being lifted to similarly serious design conversation as interiors; modularity, adaptable forms, pieces that can move between inside/outside, etc.
As Paris Design Week continues to bridge tradition with forward-thinking creativity, these six brands stand as examples of how design can shape not just spaces, but also the way we connect with comfort, beauty, and culture.
