The Maison & Objet fair in Paris and the return to face-to-face events

THE REFERENT FAIR

Only a few times we have experienced that much expectation for a fair. There are always nerves, hopes, forecasts, but this time it was more than that. The feeling that we had something at risk, that it had to go well. And it turned out great.

Maison & Objet is the international reference fair in design, lifestyle and decoration. It is the most important both in numbers (600 exhibitors, 3,000 visitors, 1,500 press…) and in reputation, it has a great prestige proved in its more than 25 editions. Maison & Objet is held in Paris, the fashion capital of the world, with a special sensitivity to design and a brutal commitment to sustainable urban mobility.

With this combination of factors, and being the first major post-pandemic event, yes, we have to admit that we had expectations. And they were more than overcome.

On this occasion, in addition, Maison & Objet took place during Paris Design Week, one of the must events for the world of design. Thus, we have lived a Paris full of inspiration, good design and ideas in an almost normality.

THE PRESENCE OF CLOSCA

Closca was present at the fair with a stand in Hall 1, dedicated to lifestyle and decorative objects. The influx of visitors was constant but without crowds, everyone was very aware of the importance of respecting security measures in one of the first face-to-face events. 

We exhibited our range of folding helmets, with all its models, as well as the Closca reusable bottles. Two design products, which continue to surprise those who do not know us yet with their innovation and reputation.

Together with our designs, we explained our responsibility as a company, that is designing for a positive impact in the world. Therefore, we explained in detail the challenge behind each of our designs. In the case of helmets, in favor of a sustainable mobility, achieving a city without smoke or noise, #CitiesWithSoul. And in the case of bottles, to eliminate single-use plastic residue and to be able to say that this is #MyLastPlasticBottle.

The public shared our mission and joined in inspiring change by becoming Ambassadors for change.

PROXIMITY TO PEOPLE, AGAIN

The fair has served us to de-virtualize the proximity, and this has been precisely the best, the desire to connect that everybody had. People still need to share, see, touch and feel...

At Maison & Objet we have met again in person with our worldwide network of distributors with whom we are usually in contact on a daily basis, but virtually. We really enjoyed being able to share hours of in-depth strategic analysis with them.

The fair has been a meeting point with end customers as well as with companies, other brands that trust our designs. We have also had very interesting conversations and exchanges of best practices with friend companies, such as AVORA (from Valencia), Steamery (from Sweden), UCON (from Germany).

We shared many moments with other companies that exhibited at the show, with which very interesting synergies were created. We could mention many, but it would be a very long post ;). For example, one of those that inspired us was Gimber, a brand of ginger drinks, with a surprising product and an incredible brand feel. It was a real pleasure talking to its founder, Dimitri Oosterlynck, who was really kind with us.

In general, all the conversations have revolved around the importance of having a good business strategy well defined and the satisfaction of gradually recovering events such as fairs, due to the good opportunities that are generated in them. We have missed it.

We have been telling the day to day at the fair, with videos and photos on our social networks. You can see it on our Instagram (Featured Stories 'Events') and Twitter.