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Matter and Shape, the carefully curated design fair that’s quickly become a must-see during Paris Fashion Week, has returned to the Jardin des Tuileries for its third edition. The fair, which opened Friday and runs through Monday, March 9, is intentionally staged while the fashion set is in town to help open up the world of design to a new audience.
More salon than trade show, Matter and Shape offers a new vision for what a design event can be, and who it is for—meeting the moment as the fashion world increasingly turns its gaze toward interiors and the home. The crowd is a smart mix of stylists, hoteliers, shop owners, restaurateurs, students, tastemakers, and creative directors, alongside the usual magazine editors, museum curators, artists, and gallerists. The likes of Interview editor-in-chief Mel Ottenberg and German photographer Wolfgang Tillmans have been spotted perusing the fair’s textiles, tableware, lighting, scents, ceramics, and furniture from independent designers, architects, heritage brands, family-run companies, and galleries.
Of course, the cross-pollination between fashion and design isn’t entirely novel. “I think that great creative directors in fashion have always been curators,” says Dan Thawley, the Paris-based Australian writer, editor, and creative consultant responsible for the fair’s creative direction. “When you look at the homes of great fashion designers, you see their book collectsions, the furniture they choose to live around, all sorts of objects they place around them to be inspired... the best of them have always created amazing spaces, but now the cross between art, fashion, and design is communicated in a much more palpable way.”
Only in its third year, the fair has already more than doubled its exhibitors list since its first edition, leaping from 30 to upwards of 70. (The “Scale” theme for 2026 takes inspiration from Rem Koolhaas and Bruce Mau’s seminal 1995 architectural monograph S, M, L, XL.) Sculptural jewelry from Monies and recycled leather jackets fashioned into cushions for a Le Corbusier-inspired armchair by Julie Kegels are displayed alongside delicate seashell sugar bowls by Tavares 1922, dreamy fragrances from Frama, and geometric side tables by the architectural powerhouse Herzog & de Meuron. In addition to the exhibitors, Matter and Shape also includes spaces for pause and contemplation, including a reading room in partnership with Villa Hegra, a café from Parisian hotspot Dreamin’ Man in collaboration with Zara Home, and an ephemeral restaurant by the creative culinary studio Balbosté. “I like to think of Matter and Shape like a curated walk through the pages of a magazine,” muses Thawley.
“We live in a time when we think everything is accessible and known through the internet in seconds,” he goes on. “But the reality is there’s still so many loopholes and hidden trap doors of beautiful things to be discovered—archives are being dusted off by fifth-generation family companies, connections are being made between film and food and fashion and these wonderful disciplines. I want to celebrate all of them, because design is also the way you live your life.”
Ahead, find Vogue’s highlights from the third edition of Matter and Shape.
Lindsey Adelman
The New York-based studio of design maven Lindsey Adelman unveils a new selection of sculptural chandeliers and sconces inspired by stars in the night sky. The collectsion, Andromeda, is rendered in sleek steel, rich brown Emperador marble, and patagonia green quartzite, accentuated by mold-blown glass rocks that mirror celestial debris. The collectsion helps to mark the design studio’s 20th anniversary, and builds upon Adelman’s portfolio of illuminated sculptures pairing delicate glass with mixed metals in organic compositions—a signature of hers.
Lobmeyr x Luca Guadagnino
Viennese glassware company Lobmeyr returns to Matter and Shape with an installation put together by Luca Guadagnino. Guadagnino is an avid collectsor of furniture, chandeliers, paintings, and glassware, including works by Italian industrial designer Gio Ponti and the prolific architect Piero Portaluppi. For his collaboration with Lobmeyr, Guadagnino designed a universe filled with works by the Italian furniture designer, architect, and painter Guglielmo Ulrich from the filmmaker’s own collectsion.
Georg Jensen
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Danish design house Georg Jensen presents an exhibition entitled “Chance Encounters,” which brings together a collectsion of archival jewelry from six female artists. The pieces, all produced in collaboration with the brand throughout the second half of the last century, are presented alongside other works from the artists. An angular bangle from 1975 designed by textile artist Kim Naver, for example, is exhibited with one of her tapestries, while the supple form of a 1963-era brooch by designer Nanna Ditzel is echoed in one of her chairs nearby.
Ann Demeulemeester x Serax
Since stepping away from fashion in 2014, Belgian designer Ann Demeulemeester has turned her attention toward the home, collaborating with contemporary design brand Serax to produce a sharp line of homewares including porcelain plates, angular cutlery, sculptural candleholders, and poetic glassware. Her latest works with the Belgian brand, presented at the fair, include a trio of monolithic carafes she initially designed for herself, as well as a cylindrical wall lamp that casts a warm glow.
Petite Friture
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French furniture publisher Petite Friture has undertaken its first historic reissue with designer René Herbst’s Sandows collectsion from 1927. Using steel and elastic tension bands, Herbst’s design favors clean lines and radical functionality, which Petite Friture has re-editioned with discreet interventions for a contemporary touch.
Fondation Arp-Taeuber
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The Fondation Arp-Taeuber makes its debut at Matter and Shape with a suite of original works by Swiss artist and painter Sophie Taeuber-Arp, presented alongside contemporary interpretations of her practice. Stained glass artisan Sophie Toporkoff of Atelier Toporkoff (previously of Hermès and Maison Margiela) reimagines one of Arp-Taeuber’s gouaches in the form of a stained-glass screen, while English rugmaker Christopher Farr translates two of her drawings into hand-tufted rugs. Meanwhile, the furniture publisher Fassen offers a chest of drawers that is faithful to a design the artist imagined for her own home and atelier.