The Year of Surreality: Maison et Objet 2025

Maison et Objet 2025 was a portal into a world where imagination leads, and reality follows. From Faye Toogood’s dreamy ‘Womanifesto!’ to Uchronia’s whimsical ‘Hotel of Dreams’ and BlueCycle’s sustainable wave-like armchairs, the fair proved that design thrives at the intersection of creativity and functionality

The design calendar for 2025 officially began with Maison et Objet, and I found myself navigating a crisp, sunlit Paris morning en route to the exhibition centre. Staying at the iconic Le Bristol, a hotel marking its centenary this year in the illustrious Faubourg Saint-Honoré neighbourhood, offered a sense of poetic continuity between the timeless and the avant-garde. As the hotel’s Belle Époque charm unfolded into the bustling streets, it felt like the perfect prelude to a day immersed in the future of design.

Twice a year, Maison et Objet, often likened to the Paris Fashion Week of design, transforms the city into a hive of creativity. This January’s edition (16th–20th) attracted an impressive roster of industry heavyweights and design aficionados, converging at the Parc des Expositions near Charles de Gaulle Airport. Seven cavernous halls brimming with 1,800 brands formed a labyrinth of ideas—some daring, some familiar—all promising to shape our living spaces.

Sur/Reality: A Centennial Reflection

This year’s theme, Sur/Reality, paid homage to the 100th anniversary of Surrealism, the avant-garde movement spearheaded by André Breton that sought to free imagination from the constraints of logic and convention. In his 1924 Surrealist Manifesto, Breton wrote, “Imagination alone offers me some intimation of what can be.” It was precisely this ethos that Maison et Objet 2025 brought to life.

Walking through Hall 7 felt like stepping into Breton’s vision of a world where reality melts into dreams. Mirrored panels created infinite reflections, inviting visitors to see their surroundings anew, while a floating dining table toyed with perceptions of gravity, evoking surrealist plays on the impossible. Dalí’s influence was palpable in melting clock-inspired lighting fixtures, and biomorphic furniture pieces blurred the lines between art and function.

Surrealism’s fascination with material and texture found modern interpretations here: textured glassware rippled like water, 3D-printed ceramics defied gravity, and upholstery mimicked natural elements such as moss and bark, immersing visitors in a tactile dreamscape.

The Spirit of Surrealism in Design

In his manifesto, André Breton declared, “Everything tends to make us believe that there exists a certain point of the mind at which life and death, the real and the imagined, the past and the future… cease to be perceived as contradictions.” This philosophy resonated deeply at Maison et Objet 2025, where the spirit of surrealism seamlessly merged fantasy and functionality. The What’s New? sections embodied this vision, offering captivating reinterpretations of design.

In Hospitality, curated by Julien Sebban, spaces came alive with lounges featuring breathing walls, bar counters that appeared to melt, and projections that transformed static interiors into dynamic, otherworldly experiences. Retail, under François Delclaux, explored surrealist storytelling through interactive displays, where touch-activated shelves and dreamlike shopfronts blurred the boundaries between reality and augmented imagination.

Meanwhile, Decor, curated by Elizabeth Leriche, elevated everyday objects into surreal masterpieces, with highlights such as a wall-mounted clock dripping like liquid mercury and candleholders that seemed to defy the laws of gravity. Together, these sections exemplified how surrealist principles continue to challenge and redefine the way we experience design.

Standout Projects from Maison et Objet 2025

Faye Toogood’s ‘Womanifesto!’

The 2025 Designer of the Year crafted a dreamscape of subdued hues and soft forms. Her Roly Poly Chair anchored the space, surrounded by pieces like a sofa inspired by pebble clusters and a table carved to resemble flowing water. Toogood’s work perfectly embodied Sur/Reality’s ethos, merging subconscious inspiration with practical design.

Uchronia’s ‘Hotel of Dreams’

This maximalist wonderland included velvet-draped beds beneath glass-blown floral chandeliers, walls covered in iridescent metallic mosaics, and sensory installations where fragrances and visuals shifted based on visitors’ movements.

BlueCycle’s Marine Innovation

The Greek studio stole attention with furniture bornof recycled marine plastics. Their surrealist-inspired wave-like armchairs, made entirely from discarded fishing nets, were a nod to both imagination and responsibility.

Victoria Wilmotte’s Sfera Lighting

Wilmotte’s lighting collection featured smoky glass globes perched atop angular steel frames, creating a cosmic interplay between light and shadow. These designs transformed functional lighting into visual poetry.

Wouters & Hendrix x Serax

From quirky owl vases in collaboration with Marni to Earth Line’s organic silhouettes, Serax blurred the line between tableware and art. Pieces like a surrealist pitcher with a handle shaped like a crescent moon brought whimsy to the everyday.

Closing Thoughts

As we left the fair, André Breton’s words echoed in our mind: “The marvelous is always beautiful, anything marvelous is beautiful, in fact only the marvelous is beautiful.” Maison et Objet 2025 didn’t just showcase design; it reminded us of its power to inspire, to challenge, and to transcend. Surrealism, as Breton envisioned, is not a movement confined to the past but a living force, and Maison et Objet proved it can shape the future.

Also read here, Design Mumbai 2024: Championing India’s design identity as a global creative force