Highlights of Maison&Objet and Paris Design Week 2026

For Paris Design Week, COVER Editor Lucy Upward explored all that textile and rug design had to offer this autumn

The September edition of Maison&Objet has long been quite a different proposition from the busy design juggernaut that is the annual January event. While January’s show falls alongside the interior design-focused Deco Off in the city and is packed full of top international brands and an interiors-savvy crowd, September has become a smaller event with a slightly different reach within interiors.

For the last 16 years it has run alongside Paris Design Week, which was established in 2011 by the M&O organisers and is focused on innovative design, young creatives and art-inspired projects. 

For 2026, Maison&Objet are capitalising on this distinction between the two events by giving them different titles and directions. The January 2026 show was titled Maison&Objet Premier, featuring premium brands and excellence in craftsmanship (see COVER 83) while this September was the first Maison&Objet Pulse. As the name suggests, Pulse the show is for less well-established brands and craft innovation from France and well-beyond.

With this in mind, the recent Maison&Objet Pulse—under the theme of Pulse in Motion—and Paris Design Week (10-14 September) had a lot to offer those looking for new makers and exciting creativity. For autumn 2026, the layout had changed covering 4 main halls: Hall 4 (Cook & Share), Halls 5A and 6 (Decor and Design), Hall 7 (a mix of gift, beauty and fashion). New sections across the Design & Decor halls included Design District, Future On Stage and Rising Talent Awards South Africa, all giving fresh design an international platform.

Amongst the more established brands in Hall 4, Chhatwal & Jonsson had a new selection of flatweaves and matching cushions. As co-founder of a brand that shows at every M&O event, Geetali Chhatwal Jonsson told me she was seeing new buyers on the first day when I asked her about how the Hall change was affecting the brand. She is also seeing a big return to flatweave buying. This is great news for the brand and also for Moroccan brand Izza Berber, was also at M&O with some great unique rugs.

French rug brand, Passion du Tapis had several new designs on the stand. Company owner Ilker Simset told me he is seeing clients currently opting for warm neutrals and textural pieces. He also had a new range of PET rugs, mostly for outdoors. How to have style in the garden is still a big focus today.

Among the younger companies in Design District, I had a good chat with new Dutch rug brand Tapin, who feature in the current issue of COVER (Autumn 2026). On display were rugs from the Nomad Trail and Earth Vibration collections, all hand-knotted in Nepal using 100% Himalayan wool. The organically shaped designs are sensitively coloured to represent the shades of nature.

Amongst the Rising Talent Awards South Africa displays, Johannesburg-based Pinda Design was presenting furniture and hand-tufted rugs to offer a ‘Modern Nguni Experience’. The striking Nguni rug combines tribal patterns and motifs in an unsymmetrical composition.

Also in the section, Tanisha Neill, founder of Cape Town-based furniture brand Nish Design, showed the beautiful hand-knotted Bjorn rug, taken from a design by artist Britt Appelgryn.

On the hunt for rugs, there were four outstanding displays. The first was Creative Matters’ new collection, Zoometry, with RDAI, an architecture, interiors and design studio.

Showing at the beautiful Movements Modernes Gallery, the hand-knotted rugs and accompanying 3D models, photos and video demonstrated RDAI’s development from looking at nature (a spider, its web and a butterfly) to producing a series of abstract rug designs (see COVER 85, Winter 2026 for more).

Fischbacher 1819 had a wonderful display of the Silk Road collection rugs (made with Zollanvari) and textiles at the brand’s 20 Rue du Mail showroom. The sumptuous Jamshid design welcomed visitors into the space on the ground floor while fabrics such as the covetable Luoyang adorned the upstairs walls.

Another striking display could be found across the Seine, where Silvera was showing the cc-tapis x Fornasetti collection in its 209 Boulevard Saint-Germain showroom (see the collection in COVER 83). In terms of rug perfection, the big sun face Re Sole really hits the spot.

The final eye-catching rug installation was by Edition 1.6.9., who showed their new European-made robo-tufted collection Solstice, in a space at 18 rue de Turenne. The five rug designs reflect the cycles of nature and the effects of natural light in terms of earthy tones, abstract designs, and varying techniques such as loop and cup pile.

Also along rue de Turenne, Paris Design Week Factory could be found—numerous displays of innovative work by young creatives. I was happy to find the work of Andrée Bracq, who had created a bedroom of tufted pieces in bright reds, pinks and oranges (bed headboard, rug, chairs, lights, screen and wall decoration). 

Another joy to find was ‘Oh my laine!’, a marvelous exhibition by thirteen artisan designers from across France, who work with wool. I loved the fairytale Aubusson tapestries of Atelier A2 and the big shaggy felted wool wall hangings of Slow Wool Design, who uses many different types of European wool from Shetland to Gotland. 

In terms of rug and textile innovation and craft, Paris offered a lot to see this autumn. And who doesn’t enjoy a trip to the city? 

Words by Lucy Upward