Paris is a city built on design. From its expansive ateliers to its storied architecture, the French capital has long been a destination for the sartorially inclined. Now the cultural hub has a design fair to match that legacy.
This Paris Fashion Week, design salon Matter and Shape returns for a second year in the Jardin des Tuileries, bringing together designers, makers, and visionaries from around the world for a four-day exhibition of form, function, and material mastery. Opening today, the fair runs through March 10, a perfect interlude for the fashion crowd in town.
Envisioned as an elevated platform for contemporary global design by co-founders Dan Thawley and Mathieu Pinet, who also serves as artistic director, Matter and Shape redefines the traditional fair format with a setting that is as thoughtfully constructed as the works on display. The salon unfolds within a sprawling 5000-square-meter space, designed by LA-based architect Willo Perron of Perron Roettinger Studio.
With its immense vaulted ceiling, the structure lets in floods of natural light, creating a luminous, neutral environment where each object—whether sculptural furniture, experimental lighting, or avant-garde decor—can breathe. A delicate play of textures and tones ensures that every exhibitor’s vision is framed with a soft, minimalistic clarity.
Sixty exhibitors are presenting their work in bespoke spaces where customizable layouts allow for dynamic installations. Byredo from Sweden, Aalvo Gallery from Brazil, Saridis of Athens from Greece, and more don't just put their objects on display, but engage with their physicality. Beyond the booths, visitors can also find communal spaces designed for discourse—a design bookstore and boutique, a café, and a full-menu restaurant. The fair is as much about conversation as it is about curation.
For a city that fosters tastemaking in every arrondissement, Matter and Shape is a new chapter for the ever-evolving creative community it attracts. As the first salon of its kind to be unveiled during Paris Fashion Week, it also builds a bridge to the world of fashion, proving that form and function, material and meaning, are inextricably linked.
