The upcoming Maison & Objet exhibition in Paris, curated by New York’s Desz, is set to be a significant event. From January 16 to 20, art enthusiasts can explore diverse artworks that blend craft with emotion, created by nine notable artists from North America, London, and China. This exhibition, themed “Emotional Thinking and Craft Thinking,” aims to showcase how art and design can evoke emotions. Desz believes that by engaging with these artworks, visitors can experience the powerful emotional responses that thoughtful and innovative art can inspire. The selected works span various mediums, including glass, plastic, fabric, stone, paper sculpture, photography, and painting, each exploring the intricate expressions of light, structure, and the interplay between craftsmanship and sentiment.
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One of the featured artists, Yiting Chen is examining the subtle connection of urban life and nature through gentle hues and meticulous brushstrokes. She collaborates with diverse brands, media, and schools, fostering ecological awareness and humane care. Her work invites reflection on finding solace in cityscapes while maintaining poetic warmth within.
Her Artwork titled Afternoon in the Garden presents serene afternoon scene, warm, gentle colors highlight a girl immersed in nature, reflecting a subtle dialogue with her surroundings. The unique design perspective lies in skillful light-and-shadow interaction, emphasizing the subject and layered flora. Refined brushstrokes and harmonious composition underscore humanity’s oneness with nature, evoking calm, thoughtful reflection.
Bo Zhang, also featured in the exhibition, is an independent designer, artist, and co-curator. His works typically challenge conventional ideas and blur the lines between art and design, inspiring contemporary imaginations in both fields.
Guangqi Cheng is a seasoned animator and visualization artist who has worked on renowned projects such as Marvel and The Legend of Luoxiaohei. She specializes in creating dynamic character animations and visual effects. Her artwork, Creative Paper Sculpture Lamp, combines AR technology with animation and interactive experiences to blend traditional paper sculpture with modern technology. This work explores a new lifestyle, infusing more emotion and innovative expression into home spaces.
Another artist featured is Guanghua Li, a Beijing-based photographer and artist known for her proficiency in creating photographic works that mimic the style of oil paintings. Her distinctive technique blends traditional art with modern photography, using light to enhance the characters and add depth to the images. This method allows viewers to experience the texture, brushstrokes, and colors characteristic of oil paintings, marking a new direction in the fine art field.
Her artwork, Girl and Flower, depicts a girl surrounded by blooming flowers. This portrayal captures the vibrant life force of both the girl and the flowers, symbolizing growth and vitality. The interaction between the girl and the flowers highlights the beauty of life and the charm of youth.
Building on the exploration of life and vitality in Guanghua Li’s work, Minxuan Zhao brings a dynamic versatility to the exhibition. Born in China and now residing in the United States, her designs draw inspiration from jewelry, clothing, tableware, and painting. Her understanding of diverse industries enables her to create freely and adapt her vision to any medium or condition.
Her work, Real You, was created during her visit to New York. It depicts a woman covering her face with her left hand, reflecting the artist’s life and her contemplation of the past and future. The head in the lower right corner symbolizes the artist as a passerby in life, observing events from a third-person perspective.
Xena Zhang and Nanxi Jin form an artist duo whose collaborative work merges their distinct expertise. Zhang, a visual artist, integrates architectural parametric techniques with traditional crafts to create immersive lighting and spatial experiences. Jin, a ceramic artist, redefines traditional craftsmanship by combining cultural heritage with contemporary innovation. Together, they created Translucent Radiance, a piece inspired by nature’s Voronoi patterns. The work combines parametric modeling, 3D-printed resin structures, and high-transparency ceramics. Through the interplay of light and shadow, it reveals the unseen, fostering a poetic dialogue between technology and tradition.
On the other hand, Zheng He is an artist with a background in landscape and preservation design, whose work explores storytelling through landscapes and the restorative power of nature. He combines elements of landscape and architecture into crystal jewelry, crafting narratives of nature, memory, and history to be worn on the wrist.
His artwork, Through Time, With Flowers and the Moon, uses natural crystals formed over billions of years as a medium, incorporating imagery from classical Chinese decorative elements. The piece delves into the overlap of memory and history, promoting positive energy flow for the wearer. It stands as a unique, wearable miniature artwork.
Complementing Zheng He’s examination of natural storytelling, Xuan Feng explores the impact of urbanization on community narratives. A Chinese photographer and video artist, Xuan earned his MA from the Royal College of Art in 2023. His visual work reinterprets the deconstruction and reconstruction of personal and collective living spaces.
In Greenland 468, Xuan captures the evolving dynamics of the Greenland 468 community. His imagery invites contemplation of home and nostalgia, featuring personal belongings left in abandoned environments as symbolic anchors to memory.
