With 53% of exhibitors coming from international locations (up 7%) and 50% foreign visitors, MAISON&OBJET continues to draw a growing international audience, with a significant rise in overseas export.

This development goes hand in hand with the globalisation of the home décor market. It provides exhibitors with new business prospects on more distant horizons, specifically in the Asia-Pacific and Pan-American regions, where MAISON&OBJET is developing its MAISON&OBJET ASIA and MAISON&OBJET AMERICAS shows.

This dynamism was acknowledged by a visit from Matthias Fekl, France’s Secretary of State in charge of External Trade, as well as by Philip Levine, Mayor of Miami Beach, where the first MAISON&OBJET AMERICAS will take place on 12-15 May 2015.

A month earlier, 10-13 March, on the fringes of Singapore Design Week, will be the second annual MAISON&OBJET ASIA, spanning twice the surface area of the show’s inaugural 2013 edition.

Visitors to the show once again enjoyed discovering new designers, brands and companies. With 164 additional exhibitors over September 2013 and 650 new exhibitors, the show has again proven itself a springboard that, through its environment-based organisation, offers tremendous international visibility for both small designers and the biggest name brands.

Devised specifically to meet the needs of architects, interior designers and contractors, the new version of MAISON&OBJET projets highlighted a record number of exhibitors offering technical solutions with high decorative and creative added value. This new addition to the September show is becoming as essential as that of January for those working in the worlds of prescription, contract and the hospitality and dining realms. Two new awards were established to support this new version of the sector and help ensure MAISON&OBJET remains the gold-standard event for this innovative segment of the décor market.

MAISON&OBJET is about more than orders, trend-spotting, and trend-setting–the show is also about making contacts and developing networks. For the last few editions, to make it easier for exhibitors to connect with a targeted audience, the show has been developing dedicated services, such as those offered by the Business Lounge and the Club. In the same vein, for visitor support, MAISON&OBJET has developed L’Espace Retail, where retail specialists can learn about the most innovative business tactics, or the MY M&O service, helping anyone compose a customised visitor experience.

The show is also now the medium for conveying all the latest developments in the décor, crafts and design markets via a complete palette of presentations, events and awards demonstrating the changes in the industry, helping professionals stay on the leading edge of their trades. As a result, it now serves as an expressive platform for top-shelf designers, including Designer of the Year 2014 Tom Dixon. It also is an audience attractor for the media themselves, like Monocle magazine, which took part for the first time this year with a wide variety of, happenings, including the magazine’s Editor-in- Chief Tyler Br?lé holding a book-signing for his latest publication, which generated much excitement.