DESIGN - MÉLANIE LEROY, MANAGING DIRECTOR, SAFI: "THE JANUARY EDITION WILL BRING TOGETHER EMBLEMATIC BRANDS AND BESPOKE SOLUTIONS FOR PREMIUM HOSPITALITY"
As the January 2025 edition of Maison&Objet prepares to open its doors, Mélanie Leroy reveals the strategic evolution of the biannual show, the launch of Women&Design and her vision of design for premium hospitality. |
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DESIGN - MÉLANIE LEROY, MANAGING DIRECTOR, SAFI: "THE JANUARY EDITION WILL BRING TOGETHER EMBLEMATIC BRANDS AND BESPOKE SOLUTIONS FOR PREMIUM HOSPITALITY"
As the January 2025 edition of Maison&Objet prepares to open its doors, Mélanie Leroy reveals the strategic evolution of the biannual show, the launch of Women&Design and her vision of design for premium hospitality. |
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Interview made by Sonia Taourghi on 2025-01-02
 Mélanie Leroy, Managing Director, SAFI (Maison&Objet, Paris Design Week et MOM)
Photo credit © SAFI
Mélanie Leroy's strategy for SAFI focuses on three key areas: differentiating the show's editions, with January dedicated to premium hospitality and high-end design, whilst September celebrates innovation and emerging trends; developing MOM, the digital marketplace, giving professional buyers year-round access to exhibitors' collections; and launching new initiatives such as Women&Design.
The latter, a particularly innovative project, aims to ensure the representation of women innovating internationally in the design and lifestyle sector. Launched in September 2024, Women&Design illustrates Maison&Objet's ambition to go beyond its role as a commercial platform to become a genuine catalyst for change in the industry. Through talks, exclusive meetings and an annual prize, this initiative promises to redefine industry standards by highlighting female talent shaping the future of design.
Journal des Palaces: How do you think your experience has prepared you for your current position?
Mélanie Leroy: My previous experience in retail and tech, as well as marketing, sales, and digital management positions, has given me a global and multidimensional vision of the business and its challenges on both the brand and buyer sides. Throughout my career, I've always adopted an 'intrapreneurial' stance, transforming or creating models by always putting the customer at the heart of the project. All my reflections are based on intuition, data, and processes, and today, this enables me to work on a profound change in our strategic positioning with methodology and customer focus and by engaging teams in this new vision.
Finally, I've been fortunate enough to work in groups such as L'Oréal, Carrefour, Casino and IDKids, which have taught me how to demand excellence from myself and my teams, how to be disciplined enough to guarantee this level of demand over the long term, and how to be innovative enough to understand market trends to respond actively by regularly challenging myself. These are the three key components on which I rely to create, with our teams, a unique and powerful ecosystem capitalising on Maison&Objet, the 'in', Paris Design Week, the 'off' and MOM, the 'on'. With these three brands, we offer a complete range of solutions to professionals in the decoration, design and lifestyle sectors to help them develop their business.
After almost two years at the head of SAFI, what have been the key moments for you since you took over?
There have been many, but I would prioritise three. Firstly, each edition of Maison&Objet is a new adventure with new challenges, developments and prospects. On the eve of my fourth edition, my objective is twofold. On the one hand, to develop the desirability of our events through original collaborations, exclusive showcases and highly inspiring event spaces, and on the other hand, to position ourselves as a benchmark business partner for visitors through a multi-sector offering with a strong curation of French and international brands, and at least 25% new exhibitors at each edition.
From 2025 onwards, our two editions will be different and complementary to respond actively to new market challenges. The January edition will bring together the leading furniture, home furnishings and accessories brands, offering a comprehensive and enlightening vision of the trends redefining the art of living. The September show will celebrate effervescence and newness through an avant-garde and eclectic selection of Fashion & Home objects and accessories.
The second key moment was the transformation of the MOM platform into a marketplace 18 months ago. This development has enabled us to strengthen the link between our community of brands and buyers by allowing them to order design products directly from the site throughout the year.
Finally, another important topic that I feel very strongly about is the launch of Women&Design by Maison&Objet in September 2024, a business and creative collective whose mission is to detect and promote women from all over the world who are innovating in the design industry whilst creating fertile connections between them.
Given SAFI's unique position at the crossroads of French and international design, can you tell us about the new digital programmes designed to help decorate and design players keep pace with changing consumer behaviour?
The buying behaviour of customers, whether retailers, architects or hospitality professionals, has indeed evolved. Digital platforms such as MOM enable them to source new products all year round and buy directly online. There is strong complementarity with trade shows, as the latter allow buyers to have a real, sensory experience with the product whilst creating human commercial relationships with the brands.
As mentioned earlier, I put the customer at the heart of our strategic thinking. That's why I believe listening to and surveying them regularly is key to constantly evolving and providing concrete solutions that actively meet their needs. We have therefore deployed a range of digital tools to establish an ongoing dialogue with our customers through surveys, interviews and polls, enabling us to analyse their needs in even greater detail, both in France and internationally. Every month, our teams organise calls with buyers and brands to understand their challenges in real time so that we can adapt our offerings and services accordingly.
We also publish our Maison&Objet Barometer every six months, which provides a snapshot of the international decoration, design, and lifestyle industry. We interview industry players on market indicators and topical issues for this barometer. The data is based on the results of an online questionnaire sent to around 1,100 respondents (brands, distributors, and specifiers), which we then relay to our 2 million followers on our social networks and in business newsletters sent to the 600,000 sector professionals in our database.
You recently redefined the scope of each edition of Maison&Objet, and the January event will focus more on the needs of the luxury hotel industry. How do you intend to do this?
Indeed, Maison&Objet is adopting a new strategy to adapt to changes in the design market and the expectations of professionals. January's show will bring together iconic brands and new names in furniture and interior design, offering a comprehensive overview of the trends that are (re)shaping the art of living through premium collections, limited editions and bespoke solutions for premium hospitality.
In September, Maison&Objet will unveil a sharp and eclectic selection of objects, accessories, fashion, small furniture and design pieces to meet the expectations of professionals in search of novelties and trends. At the next edition, in January 2025, the show will be showcasing inspiring settings at the cutting edge of aesthetics and functionality whilst decoding new trends in the hotel industry.
These include the What's New? In Hospitality, created by Julien Sebban of Studio Uchronia, who was given carte blanche to design this space, which aims to provide a fresh look at, and for, the hospitality sector. In the heart of Hall 6, the architect designer has imagined the Hotel Uchronia, a surreal immersion in a unique hotel. Julien Sebban is plunging us into the world of the strange and the wonderful in a 200-square-metre space, showcasing a cutting-edge selection of products that meet the expectations and requirements of hospitality professionals.
In January, Maison&Objet is also creating Curatio, a capsule showcasing pieces from Collectible Design, conceived as a unique and privileged experience and designed by Thomas Haarmann. The German designer and interior architect living in Belgium is also the curator of this space, located in Hall 7, at the heart of the Signature sector. His selection will include the work of around twenty designers, a limited series of objects produced in Europe, with a distinctly artistic dimension and showcasing exceptional know-how for an event that will be just as exceptional.
In the "Home" (Maison) space, hoteliers and restaurateurs can discover new brands and meet up with iconic publishers, manufacturers of excellence and craftsmen grouped in the Signature, Today, Forever, Unique&Eclectic, Craft and Projects sections. Innovative furniture and lighting solutions tailored to the technical and stylistic requirements of hotels, restaurants and third-party venues.
In the "Objects" (Objet) space, in the Home Accessories and Home Linen sections, visitors will be able to discover a range of household linen, small furnishings, cushions and decorative objects that will give their establishments a unique and personal touch. Finally, the latest wellness trends will be showcased in the Well Being & Beauty and Home Fragrances areas to develop and boost the customer experience.
To make it easier for professionals to visit and identify all these exhibitors, a Hotel & Restaurant section is dedicated to them, with a comprehensive offering inspired by and designed to meet their specific needs (safety standards, accessibility, robustness, etc.).
Tell us about the birth of Women&Design. What are the objectives of this initiative, how were the members chosen, and how do you see it evolving?
Women&Design by Maison&Objet was born out of a desire to ensure the representation of women innovating internationally in the design and lifestyle sector.
For 30 years, Maison&Objet has been supporting and promoting talent worldwide through programmes such as Rising Talents, Future on Stage and Designer of the Year. In 2024, we wanted to pay particular attention to the industry women working to promote creativity and innovation. Some of them don't have the networks they need to reach out to, and some don't have the marketing levers to make themselves known.
The idea was to launch this collective to identify, promote and facilitate exchanges between women from all over the world who are driving innovation, redefining standards and significantly impacting our sector. As soon as the creation of this network was announced in September 2024, feedback was very positive, with the immediate involvement of admirable and inspiring personalities such as Émilie Viargues, CEO of Christofle, Nina Magon, founder and director of Contour Interior Design, Daphné Desjeux, interior architect, etc.
In practical terms, Women&Design "Talks" will be held at each Maison&Objet show on themes relating to creativity and innovation (four talks are scheduled for January 2025). Exclusive meetings are planned, and dinners will be organised all year round in France and abroad to bring together these influential women.
We are also developing a prize to be awarded annually to an inspiring female personality. Finally, the Maison&Objet newsletter will highlight the work of a woman designer, entrepreneur, or craftswoman every month.
Do you have any concrete examples of how this programme has transformed discussions and even attitudes?
Talking about specific achievements is still very new, but the initial feedback after a few months is very enthusiastic, and the community is growing fast. In particular, the dinner organised in September has led to many meetings that could give rise to some very interesting projects in the coming months...
 Mélanie Leroy, Managing Director of SAFI, presented Women&Design at Maison&Objet in September 2024
Photo credit © Sonia Taourghi / Journal des Palaces
 Nina Magon, founder and director of Contour Interior Design, Daphné Desjeux, interior designer, Émilie Viargues, CEO of Christofle and Mélanie Leroy, Managing Director of SAFI, at the presentation of Women&Design during Maison&Objet in September 2024
Photo credit © Sonia Taourghi / Journal des Palaces
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