Paul Cocksedge named Designer of the Year in January 2027

The appointment resonates with the positioning of the January edition, for which he is also ambassador through its inspirational theme, Sensory Shift. From the fair’s visual identity to the design of a suspended space at the heart of the show, the designer weaves a common thread throughout the event, inviting visitors to shift their perspective.

Following his notable appearance on the Paris design scene in 2024, during Paris Design Week with the exhibition Squeeze, Paul Cocksedge returns in January 2027 with Tension. Conceived as a forward-looking and sensory laboratory, the installation explores the connections between science, material and perception, offering an artistic experience to be observed and experienced.

For in a world where everything seems to be moving ever faster, Paul Cocksedge chooses to slow down, creating a moment suspended in time.

Turning Material into an Experience

Born in 1978 and based in Hackney, East London, Paul Cocksedge has an insatiable curiosity. After studying industrial design at Sheffield Hallam University, he continued his education at London’s Royal College of Art, where he earned an MA in Product Design in 2002 under the mentorship of Ron Arad.

Two years later, he founded his London studio. Since then, his work has extended across a wide range of disciplines: architectural installations, sculptures, public artworks, objects and immersive experiences.

While science plays a central role in his practice, every project and every exploration of material begins with a question, which then evolves into a process of scientific experimentation.

Tension, A Moment Suspended

For Maison&Objet Premier, this philosophy takes the form of an installation—a pause within the fair’s energetic rhythm.

“I imagined this project by starting with a simple question: where are we today, and what does that awaken in us?” explains Paul Cocksedge.

The question is deliberately open-ended. It echoes a present shaped by uncertainty, technological acceleration and climate disruption. Rather than offering a spectacular representation of these conditions, Cocksedge chooses to give form to the sensation itself: that of an invisible energy.

Water is the starting point for this reflection.

“We come from water, we are made of water; here, water takes the form of ice, whose melting slowly sets the work in motion.” Time becomes the material of a transformation. It can be heard. Watched as it changes. Waited for.

Seeing the World Differently

This attentiveness to our environment runs through Paul Cocksedge’s work. His curiosity about the Earth and our relationship with its resources has led him to explore subjects as diverse as social connection, natural resources and fossil fuels.

With Tension, water and ice become the protagonists of a narrative that does not seek to predict the future, but rather to anchor us more deeply in the present.

Design becomes something more than a functional response. It can be a question. A sensation. An experience. A space left open to the imagination.

Observe. Listen. Wait. Feel.

Four simple gestures that, in the artist’s world, become the first tools for a form of design capable of reconnecting us with the world.