Fresh Objects: AA’s Selection
Architecture, visual arts, science, and design: our editorial team continues to explore the creative world of designers and publishers who, day after day, imagine and craft new solutions for our interiors. Among the highlights of this year’s Paris Design Week were a selection of objects that stood out for their ingenuity and poetic qualities. Each piece contributes to the evolving story of contemporary design in its own way, blurring the lines between functionality, narrative and artistry and offering fresh perspectives on how we inhabit and shape our spaces.
Guillaume Ackel
Snow armchair by Note Design Studio, La Chance
The Snow sofa is modular, consisting of two elements – a straight module and a 30° rounded module – that can be combined to create an infinite number of shapes. First unveiled in 2022, the sofa is typically upholstered in velvet or bouclé fabric. To celebrate the opening of La Chance’s new showroom at 60 Rue de Richelieu, inParis, the Snow armchair was fitted with an elegant pair of marble-plated feet, creating a new variation that gives this seat a whole new silhouette. The combination of the soft seat with its delicately pleated finish and the solid, sculptural, powerful base offers the kind of contrast that we at La Chance love so much.
www.lachance.paris
notedesignstudio.se
Péyi vase by Florian Dach & Dimitri Zephir (dach&zephir)
For ten years, the French Dach&Zephir studio has been exploring the history of the West Indies through design as part of a research project entitled Élòj kréyòl (‘Creole praise’). In order to define Creole culture, the two designers have borrowed the words of the Guadeloupean poet and writer, Ernest Pépin, who describes a construction ‘from the remains’ of a slave-based past that has been imposed as a legacy. This work has given rise to a dozen objects that reinterpret Creole tradition by exploring local resources and vernacular know-how. The Péyi vase, designed as part of a public commission for the Centre national des arts plastiques, showcases a dying craft: that of the ‘tailleur d’essentes’, or wooden shingle maker. In the French Caribbean, this craft was once used in almost 80% of traditional buildings, but the rise of concrete hastened its decline, as it did for many other woodworking trades. Today, the Kamoise family of Acomat in Pointe-Noire (Guadeloupe’s timber capital) is the only family to continue this tradition, and the dach&zephir studio pays tribute to them with the Péyi vase. The object was presented on 11 September 2025 at the Grand Prix de la Création de la Ville de Paris awards ceremony. Florian Dach and Dimitri Zephir received the Engagement Award in the ‘Design’ category on this occasion.
Wabi chair by Giuseppe Bavuso, Rimadesio
Elegantly punctuating the Modernity Flow collection, the Wabi chair is the work of Giuseppe Bavuso for the Italian company Rimadesio. Drawing inspiration from Nordic austerity and Eastern poetry, the Wabi chair is distinguished by its subtle interplay of ropes, leather and wood, where the lightness of the lines converses with the warmth of the materials. The seat combines formal rigour with refined craftsmanship, with every detail, from the weaving to the leather treatment, revealing exceptional expertise. Since its establishment in 1956, Rimadesio has remained firmly rooted in the industrial furniture district of Brianza, north of Milan. Architects know the company for the quality of the modular systems it designs and manufactures for living rooms, bookcases, and dressing rooms. The collection of tables and chairs designed by Giuseppe Bavuso has enabled the company to expand its catalogue.
Arno collection by Joe Colombo, reissued by Arno Glass
Designed by Italian Joe Colombo in 1963 and manufactured by Italora in pressed glass, the Arno stackable tableware series flooded 1970s interiors before ending up in flea markets and on online resale platforms. Today, Arno Glass, a Korean company that owns the reproduction rights to this iconic design, is developing an upmarket collection in moulded crystal. At the inaugural Who’s Next Home event, in Paris, which is dedicated to decorative objects and forms part of the renowned Who’s Next fashion show, Arno Glass presented a range of cups, bowls, and other vessels that remain faithful to Joe Colombo’s original designs. These pieces are available in transparent, coloured, or ‘frosted’ crystal. While enthusiasts of good domestic design will continue to hunt for vintage pieces, there is no doubt that luxury buyers will be seduced by Arno Glass’s crystalline interpretations.
AL13 collection by Vincent Eschalier & Mattéo Lécuru, MVE-Collection
Some objects are so familiar to us that we forget their presence because their function takes precedence over their form; the door handle is undoubtedly one of them. Recognising this essential feature, French architect Vincent Eschalier and his partner designer Mattéo Lécuru have used their talent to breathe new life into this indispensable yet often overlooked element. Rather than focusing on form, they have focused on material and texture: AL13.378 is a door handle made from 378 grams of recycled aluminium, recovered from the MVE agency’s urban cleaning sites, and manufactured by a foundry in the Yvelines region. This casting process has also been used to create other pieces, ranging from door knobs to table lamps. The rough surface of the handle is created by placing graphite powder in the mould, which eats away at the cast aluminium when it is poured. A mirror-polished notch adds a contemporary finishing touch to the design.
mve-collection.com
vincenteschalier.com
Feuille de sauge table by Anaïs Fernon, Camille Sardet and Clémence Bondon
In Nanterre, France, the major renovation project of the 18 ‘Nuages’ towers, which were designed by Émile Aillaud in the 1970s, is finally underway. These towers are architectural icons thanks to a few key features: their shape, which takes the form of a schematic cloud; their colours, with magnificent mosaics of coloured glass paste designed by artist Fabio Rieti adorning the façades; and their joinery, with a myriad of windows in various shapes, including round, square with rounded corners and even sage leaf-shaped ones. The thermal renovation of the buildings required the replacement of the single-glazed windows, raising the question of how to remove and reuse these iconic fixtures. Anaïs Fernon (architect and designer), Camille Sardet (designer and visual artist), and Clémence Bondon (architect and reuse consultant) joined forces to save around a hundred of the most recognisable windows — the sage-leaf-shaped ones — by transforming them into tables. Unveiled for the first time during Paris Design Week in September 2025, this table is, above all, a humble gesture to preserve a fragment of heritage-listed, artistic architecture.
@anais.fernon
@camillesardet
@secondemain_architecture
