Lights spotlighted at Maison et Objet

Visitors take photos inside the “Forest of Resonating Lamps” at the Maison & Objet exhibition in Paris, Sept. 5. / Korea Times photos by Yun Suh-young

16 Korean brands participate this year

By Yun Suh-young

PARIS -- Entering a dark room full of glowing mushroom-shaped lights, visitors marveled at the scene. And they "Instagrammed" it.

This light exhibition "Forest of Resonating Lamps -- One Stroke" by teamLab was the highlight among those attending the annual Maison et Objet exhibition, the main event part of the Paris Design Week held Sept. 3 to 10. Maison & Objet took place Sept. 2 to 6 in Nord Villepinte, a convention center an hour outside of Paris. Other events were held in four other locations around the city.

Although unintended, the protagonist this year of the annual interior and design exhibition seemed to be the "Forest of Resonating Lamps." Light was just one of the five themes exhibited in the seven halls of the convention center, yet received the most public attention, much attributed to the resonating lamps exhibition.

Visitors browse the Henri Bursztyn booth at the Maison & Objet. / Korea Times photo by Yun Suh-young

What was special about the resonating lamps was that they responded to human action. The space was created to be interactive with visitors and the lamps were equipped with sensors that determine the position of people in real time. The lamps were linked to a network in a continuous line and when a person gets close to the lamp it shines brightly and emits a color. Then with this lamp as a starting point, the light resonates to two other nearest lamps which then glow in the same color. Then the lights near these two lamps respond one after another and this spreads in a chain reaction to other lamps.

This year, the exhibition also hosted great names in the lighting field such as Italian group Artemide, which uses light as a means to convey emotion and Asteri and Electrorama introducing their latest products.

Apart from the lights, the event was a chance for the general public to engage and take in the creative energy of the lifestyle brands participating at the event. This year, 200 brands from all over the world participated in the fair, including 16 brands from Korea which have stores in Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP). They were specially selected among the brands within the DDP by the venue operator Seoul Design Foundation (SDF). The foundation has participated in the fair annually since 2010, seeing revenues of over 5 billion won in counseling fees and contracts.

"We come here annually with a group of designers and their brands that operate businesses within the DDP. It's a great way to promote Korean designers and brands overseas," said Park Ju-hyeon, a researcher at the Design Convergence Lab part of the Design House which was doing public relations on behalf of the SDF.

"Not all of the brands from DDP are invited, but we try to mix them up a little with variety."

SDF had a booth to themselves with the Korean artists and brands clustered together. The brands included Dott by Kideo, a product design company by Kim Kyung-min. It introduced a silicon golf ball holder shaped like a green bean and silicon golf tee holders. Menuha, a homeware brand by Park Bo-ram, had fragrance-related products such as potpourri and trays.

Korean electronics brand Samsung also displayed its Serif TV in collaboration with Ronan & Erwan Bouroullee. The TV was specially designed to be aesthetically appealing to blend in like furniture, not just as a technology tool.