Un Voyage Inspirant à Paris

Since my first visit to Paris over a decade ago it’s been a special place to me, one of my favorite places to stay, and every time I go back the same feeling returns. Around every corner or whatever street you take something truly remarkable waits. It makes sense then that a salon like Matter and Shape, which I visited this past weekend, would choose Paris as it’s home. Located on the grounds of Jardin des Tuileries (you could see the set of the latest Dior runway show being dissassembled) and occurring the same time as Paris Fashion Week, the salon is a microcosm of fantastic design, exploring furniture, industrial and object design, interior design, fashion and the decorative arts.

Their goal is clear and quite smart: attract people with broad cultural appetites. You might be in town for the shows, but you also care about interiors, about objects, about the spaces you return to when the runways go dark. Instead of forcing a new “moment” into an already crowded cultural calendar, Matter and Shape rides the energy of Fashion Week and creates a moment to relax. At one point on Friday I spotted Tracee Ellis Ross wandering the aisles, and then Saturday she was front row at the Celine F/W 2026 runway show. It’s a natural bridge between worlds.

I first attended Matter and Shape two years ago for it’s debut as I was fond of Dan Thawley, the artistic director of the event and a longtime fashion editor and curator, formerly of A Magazine Curated By. His Instagram stories are a trove of cultural adventures and his experience assured me that he would craft something worthwhile. This year’s salon was remarkably larger, two massive buildings rather than one, with both a café that featured a menu by Frederik Bille Brahe of Atelier September and a coffee stand helmed by Paris darlings Dreamin’ Man to keep you energized while you browsed.

My personal favorites of this year’s event were Marimekko, which came with a burst of colorful fabrics, the space a conceptual reinterpretation of their Helsinki print archive with an opportunity to engage with original fabric swatches. Challengers and Call Me by Your Name director Luca Guadagnino partnered with Lobmeyr to create a presentation like a scene in a film. Drawing on his experience with framing and atmosphere, he created a space where every detail is directed to create a specific unforgettable feeling rather than a generic showroom. Then I came across Tavares 1922, a century-old Portuguese high jewelry house from Póvoa de Varzim. They blend traditional craftsmanship with modern design to create refined, heritage-rich pieces. They showcased a collaboration with designer Omer Gilony, The Bird Edit, which transforms natural shells into surreal silver-legged “bird” sculptures. The pieces were silly and delightful and gorgeous, it’s really a winning combination for me.

Also of note was a quietly opulent cluster of sculptural furniture and everyday objects from the Manufactures nationales – Sèvres et Mobilier national that felt like a living still life of contemporary design, Frama’s material-driven universe grounding the fair in warm woods, stone, and glass unfolding into daily rituals, Byredo extending the sensorial register with an installation that blurred fragrance, art, and objecthood, Birkenstock 1774’s Funny City collaboration with Serban Ionescu who treated footwear as architecture and play in a walk-through sculpture, and, tucked inside the Matter and Shape boutique, stacks of archival boxes from Jeanne Tresvaux du Fraval that underlined the fair’s through line of tactility and memory, and how we live with the things we keep.

My personal portion of this years salon was the section reserved for olfactory exhibitors, perfumes and scents if you catch my drift, which looked at smells as a key part of experiences. Not an add-on, mind you, elevating them into the same arena as objects and furniture. Italy-based Olfactory Signals created a “salon-in-salon” moment with a focus on how smell shapes our memories and spaces, and perhaps most importantly, our everyday experiences. There was lots on display and many standouts that are worth exploring if you’re in the market.

Of the nearly twenty exhibitors, there were two that particularly stood out to me. When I first walked into the area, I noticed a blonde woman smiling at passersby standing next to a small stand with volcanic rocks and strangely formed crystals, with small silver boxes that read CAVE 0 in a thin sans serif font. I was immediately intrigued.

The woman, Emma McCormick Goodhart, is an artist who explores bodies and environments, and the scent is a collaboration with Barnabé Fillion, a perfumer known for working on concept-driven, art and design pieces, and together they’ve released the scent under the platform Ecdysis Studio. Stick with me here, this is where things get deep. CAVE 0 is conceived as an “iterative scent line,” an evolving series of compositions that return to the same cave-world over time, with each new edition adjusting the “atmosphere” rather than restarting from scratch. They also talk about a “scent climate,” which treats perfume like a shifting environment rather than a fixed accord, using spectral musk, mitti attar, mineral and ozonic notes, and smoke to evoke the threshold of a cave.

When Emma described the scent to me she spoke about “space,” and I thought she meant like outer space (she wasn’t), because that’s how interesting this scent smells. Maybe this is what outer space might smell like? (I understand space is a vacuum and thus has no scent, we are not literal here at Horstman.) To me, it smells kind of dirty and dank and musty (these are positive things, btw), slightly medicinal in ways, yet with a floral touch that brightens things, like a flower blooming in a dark, wet cave. It’s not a conventional “pretty” perfume, it’s a portable artwork.

Then I came across Roelen, a small, modern fragrance house by David Roelen that treats scent as a form of communication, a tool for personal transformation. The perfumes are inspired by Roelen’s own life and human encounters, developed through concept-driven collaborations with perfumers, and are created for people with strong personality and conviction, regardless of gender. These are some of the most unique scents I’ve ever smelled, this coming from someone who owns a vast trove of fifty to sixty scents spanning over a decade of buying.

Roelen’s collection of perfumes form a subversive wardrobe of scent. Daddy is a grown-up woody amber with a hint of provocation, smoky and intimate without ever tipping into vulgarity. Flower Boy treats florals as a unisex accessory, pairing tender petals with earthy tobacco and patchouli to quietly blur gender codes. Broken Bouquet turns the idea of a pretty floral on its head, its rose and jasmine threaded with sharp greenery and a scorched, caramel darkness. The Door, made for the doormen at Berghain to wear, completes the picture with a contemplative incense and wood accord, its smooth rubber accent giving the whole composition a subtle tension that feels contemporary.

At Matter and Shape, the fair feels less like a trade event and more like a gathering of kindred spirits. One visitor told me he usually skips fairs altogether, finding his own industry too stiff and old fashioned, yet this was the one he looked forward to. It offered a fresh audience and a sense of renewal he hadn’t felt elsewhere. Another woman said there is still nothing quite like it in Paris, and that she had gained a new client simply by socializing at the fair.

These stories capture what makes the atmosphere so distinct: a place where creativity feels shared and open. Makers, designers, and small brands come together not only to show their work but to exchange ideas and build lasting connections. It is proof that the creative world still runs on curiosity and kindness, and that the best ideas begin in the easy company of people who believe in what they make and in the value of coming together.

As I tend to run around cities and experience as much as I can, here are some highlights from my last trip to look out for next time you’re in town:

One final note, next Friday, the first day of Spring, I’ll be releasing a new playlist on Apple Music and Spotify that embodies and distills the feeling of the season. 30 songs, 2 hours, lots to enjoy.

— @materialcritic