For its third year, MATTER and SHAPE – led by Matthieu Pinet with creative direction by Dan Thawley – returned to the Jardins des Tuileries, exploring the theme of scale. Held within a conceptual architecture by JA Projects, the London and New York-based practice founded by Jayden Ali, the four-day event hosts over 70 exhibitors across spatial practices, object and furniture design, industrial productions, and the decorative arts, showcasing the pluralism of design today. 

Thawley met Ali a few years back at Frieze Masters, and was drawn to Ali’s way of “respecting and learning about culture” in his practice, and how it comes from a sense of community. For Thawley, the Jardins des Tuileries “is a place to be rebellious,” where many scales of life intersect, a place to “confront the history of artistic merit.” Ali took the historical identity of the garden as a point of departure in designing two effortless, compelling and alluring pavilions. The facade is clad with panels that resemble silk moiré; developed by the graphic studio Hugo Blazant, the gesture is inspired by France’s ambition, in the 16th and 17th centuries, to establish a silk industry, which resulted in the planting of 20,000 mulberry trees in Paris.

The interiors are built from green oil-stained pine, hemp bricks and adaptable timber systems. Besides exhibition spaces, they include a terraced auditorium that promotes collective participation where talks supported by Monocle expand on the theme of scale; a reading room created in collaboration with the French and Saudi institution Villa Hegra; and the culinary concept SCALE by Balbosté. Between the pavilions, a large, off-centre bench gives the entrance to the salon the public-facing quality of a civic setting. Ali told me it was one of his favourite features of the whole architectural concept, a small intervention that effectively reconfigures space, one always in use. 

The theme of scale is subtly presented and not limited to size and proportion. MATTER and SHAPE invites us to reflect on the relationship of designers to materials, objects, bodies, spaces, time, industry, and to consequently contextualize contemporary design practices. “Unfortunately, the idea perpetuated by the fashion world that one creative director does everything is so untrue,” Thawley told me. He hopes for more transparency in design processes, and a celebration of artisans and workers.

Studio Kukkapuro displayed One Design for Each Decade at Matter and Shape.

This idea resonated throughout the event: Ida Kukkapuro, the granddaughter of renowned Finnish designer Yrjö and artist Irmeli Kukkapuro, told me that part of her work as the director of Studio Kukkapuro – which displayed 10 furnishings from 10 decades of the Kukkapuros’ career – is to “correct history.” Challenging the notion of single authorship in design, the Studio seeks to credit Irmeli as much as Yrjö for their design legacy.  

Herzog & de Meuron also presented its Objects series of furniture at Matter and Shape

In the talks, there is a casual atmosphere of comfort and proximity, with no speeches or slides, but rather a focus on the exchange of ideas. By inviting both emerging and established designers working at the industrial scale to come together, the fair has a clear theme. “Young artists and designers working with the industry are the ones changing old habits,” says Thawley, who applauds them for bridging their positions to reimagine possibilities. At the salon, I felt an energy to challenge and contest past design practices, to work to redefine design today, with ideas of responsibility, craft, labour, and highlighting ethical, sustainable, and transparent practices.

De Troupe debuted Edition No.1, its latest collection, at Matter and Shape

As for the pavilions, the afterlife of their materials was considered from the start. After the four-day salon, they will be reclaimed or donated to École Spéciale d’Architecture in Paris, to give them a new meaning in the form of spatial interventions in the city. Ali had been working closely with architecture students before and during the salon. Just a few hours after the opening, he rushed across Paris to meet with them and share his perspective on their ideas to repurpose the materials in a meaningful way. Care, above all, is what can shape the design of tomorrow.