Caroline Biros, Marketing and Communications Director, MAISON&OBJET
Question: This was the first Maison&Objet to take place after Covid, how did you experience this edition?
Caroline Biros: This is actually the third Maison&Objet Paris show since the COVID crisis. By holding the show last September, then on March 2022 (the January edition was postponed due to the Omicron variant) we have remained in tune with the market, which has enabled us to set up many innovative projects this autumn.
With the number of brands present and the quality of the immersive installations surrounding them, we were able to seduce our community again, which was particularly enthusiastic during these 5 days.
Question: What is your greatest satisfaction after this edition of M&O? Which action was the most successful?
Caroline Biros: Over the past year, we have carried out more than 20 transformation projects in our exhibition methods and projects. It was a great satisfaction to see them all finally implemented in the same edition and to hear the teams already ready to optimise the details to be even more efficient for the future. From the change of the Club’s location to the creation of the new “Future on Stage” young brands programme, not to mention the numerous collaborations with new partners or the bridges between the show and our city event Paris Design Week… all the actions were a success! We are very happy and proud of the involvement of our team and agent networks for having led these developments together.
Question: As far as international attendance is concerned, which countries were the most successful in returning to the show? Were there any surprises?
Caroline Biros: We were delighted this year to confirm the significant presence of all the major countries in our networks, with the exception of China and Eastern Europe for health and political reasons.
Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands, Germany and the UK led the way, and we are also proud to have received over a thousand American visitors or to have seen the return of several hundred visitors from Korea, Japan, India and Brazil. There were no real surprises, but rather the reassurance that the whole world still considers Maison&Objet Paris as a great place to do business and meet people who are passionate about decoration and design. By resuming our actions in emerging countries (thanks in particular to the Top Buyers programme, set up by the Ministry of the Economy and Finance, operated and co-financed by Promosalons as part of the plan to support the events industry), we are confident that international attendance, particularly for highly qualified profiles, will increase even more in future editions.