Just back from my first visit to the mother of interior trade shows 'Maison & Objet' in Paris & what a great trip!

Really interesting to get an idea of what each hall is all about & where I'd be best placed when I come to exhibit one day.
'Hall 1' was all about concept & exploration, really inspiring stuff, great new products that thinking outside the box. Below are a few of my faves (from left to right along the rows) Beija Flor amazing vinyl printed mating of victorian flooring tiles as mats, rugs & runners. Great idea & something that personally appealed having lusted after the real reclaimed encaustic tiles for my kitchen & at £7/tile having to admit defeat...not anymore yay! I'm sure UK stockists will be coming soon as it's such a great product but in the meantime Paris interior store Fleux have already snapped it up & are selling online. BoboBoom were doing some great needlepoint covered furniture with some kitsch nudey ladies & Etincelles Maroc Nomazur did these great wicker beach bags with different phrases embroidered in neon. De Museum Winkel were doing an amazing collection of taxidermy, love the tagged birds & I was pretty taken with these bulldog salt & pepper shakers & monochrome patterned drawers available from Chehoma. Also fell in love with the crocheted giant apples & record players at Anne-Claire Petit, great for kids & adults rooms!

'Hall 6' was a mix of bedding & kids brands mainly with a few fashion accessory & home brands scattered about, loved the tromp l'oeil digitally printed bedding at SNURK & printed scarves at Astrid Sarkissian.
'Hall 7' is the uber luxury hall, some huge stands from serious luxe suppliers & some established names like Timorous Beasties, Missoni Home, Rory Dobner, IBride & really please to see the beautiful, painterly artistic prints from Boeme too. Stand-out items shown below include these porcelain figurine vases by Volokhova Porcelain & some beautiful feather lighting (I want SOOOOO much) from Mat&Jewski

'Hall 8' was where it was at for me, the emerging contemporary designer section, bit like the crowd at Tent London. I loved Silken Favours stand & her new collection of shaped cushions ('Dave the dog' & the pineapple shown below are my faves, but loving the butterfly too!) really stood out as different & new. The whimsical, poetic wallsticker collection from Mel et Kio Studio & these great jam-jar pendant lights (they added the plastic toy models which are class) from french interior store Pop Corn. Stand design awards go to Seletti & Fatboy for their trompe l'oeil terrace, so clever.