The Maison gets the silent treatment
There’s a roaring crash of words and images that overwhelm our daily lives, observes Elizabeth Leriche, trend forecaster at Maison & Objet, the premier lifestyle, design and decorating show in Paris. Fear of terrorism, the rise of populism and an obsession with déclinisme or a decline of civilization has created a gloomy mood ridden with anxiety and lots of noise. With the impact of images and connections, there is an indisputable need for a break from all that. Silence as a trends theme for the recent show can come as a bit of a surprise, says Leriche: “It is more closely related to societal challenges than other themes that the M&O Observatory have usually chosen to explore, but it quickly became an obvious choice.”
The trend was actually already dormant with the rise of lighter materials and minimalism, which the observatory had been noticing in the past few seasons. “These were early signals that heralded this vital need for simplicity and the resurgence of fundamental values, which now constitute true luxury in our paradoxical era.”
Silence, however, is not just the absence of noise. “It is all but a forgotten notion nowadays. Our auditory marks have been distorted, diminished, they are no longer sacred,” according to Alain Corbin in his book “Histoire du Silence.” He bemoans how “the intimacy of a place — a bedroom and the objects that inhabit it, or a home — used to be defined by the silence that prevailed there.”
The very fact that we are uneasy with “dead air” when no one is saying anything or when we cannot hear anything illustrates our fear of silence. Well, it’s time to embrace the quiet again if we are to keep our sanity and restore the serenity in our homes. It is no wonder that architects are exploring soundproofing solutions and designers are devising new ways to shut oneself away from the world. Maybe that’s why the self-enveloping Buzzihub by Alain Gilles and the Nascondino booths by Pierre Emmanuel Vandeputte are so timely. Gilles envisioned his Buzzihub, as a shelter or niche to escape the agitation from wide, open spaces. Nascondino, taking its name from the Italian word for hide and seek, brings to mind childhood games, a new space to get lost in our memories, regain our privacy and personal space.
Silence requires that we part with the superfluous, useless ornamentation and concentrate entirely on the quest for what is essential. It can be manifested in different ways. A video by artist Cécile Le Talec, for example, shows a mute pianist playing a piece of music without sound, letting the story unfold through movement with the expressiveness of the hands speaking their own silent language. Our notion of time and the perception of slowness are challenged through Deep Sea, a bookcase made from gradated blue hues of transparent crystal by Nendo. Special Libratone headphones immerse you in the audible landscape of nature and reveal sounds that we are no longer used to hearing.
The setting we create should be “an invitation to pause and take stock, to let oneself feel the passing of time,” says Leriche. To achieve this, lighter materials, geometric abstraction, and transparency are key. Muller van Severen’s delicate, sculptural seating made of wire net that balances off the ground or lies flat, has a transparency that allows it to blend with the surroundings, producing a calm, uncluttered environment.
Halo effects and ethereal hues are also a source of comfort. To be attuned to the celestial rhythm of the heavens, one can even have on the desktop or shelf a topographically accurate model of a lunar globe called MOON by Oscar Lhermitte + Kudu. Using the latest data from NASA’s lunar reconnaissance orbiter combined with advanced electronic and mechanical engineering as well as careful craftsmanship in mold making, this 1/20 million replica with surface features in every detail features a “sun” ring of LEDs revolving around the “moon” globe, constantly illuminating the correct face of the moon to recreate the lunar phases as seen from the earth. It has three modes of operation: Manual, allowing you to rotate the sun yourself to set the lunar phase you would like to see; Demo to see a synodic month in just 30 seconds; and Live to synchronize itself with the current position of the real moon.
For silent interiors, you also need choice objects to contemplate, ideally with archetypal shapes like smooth and simple objects carved from white marble or pristine clear vessels like those by Matteo Gonet, wonderful attempts to capture clouds in crystal. A traditional 17th-century Korean Moon jar of white porcelain, designed for the sole purpose of contemplation, is a pure intimation of the divine. Everyday objects like the wooden utensils for the Japanese tea ceremony are also soothing because they are designed to make time for gestures, highlighting the role objects play in winning back the nurturing silence of a setting.
Black and white are the traditional colors of silence, which Leriche dramatized in two contrary and complementary rooms that epitomize the silent domestic environment : An immaculately white library entirely covered with veils and filled with white books and handmade ceramics and a bedroom shrouded in black to express the mysteries of the night. Silence, however, can also be the cool palette of a blue lagoon, with its watery shades conjuring a dreamy, aquatic world.
The palette you choose and the objects you choose to surround yourself with should be in a perfect harmony that allows you to unwind and shed the woes of everyday life. Leriche clarifies, though, that the intention here is not to sound an alarm: “The message is a very positive one. Quiet and balance are the products of solutions we devise for ourselves. Silence is crucial for the meditation it allows, the perspective we gain.” To maintain balance, we have to take time for ourselves and reach a point of equilibrium where we are at peace with ourselves. Rediscovering ourselves while contemplating beauty is a precious gift.
Ultimately the home should be an ode to wellness, a place of peace and serenity and a road to happiness that balance and self-awareness bring us. “A heaven unlocked by silence,” says Leriche.
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