Christofle sets a spectacular table at the MAD

© Musée des Arts décoratifs/ Christophe Delliere

The Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris dazzles visitors with its new exhibition dedicated to the Christofle silversmithing house, celebrating nearly two centuries of expertise and exceptional creations. From cutlery sets to champagne buckets and superb, intricately crafted candelabras, tables designed by Christofle light up the rooms of the world’s most prestigious receptions. Get ready to journey from the 19th century to today with this selection of the finest pieces in French silverware.

Founded in the 1830s by Charles Christofle and Henri Bouilhet, this manufactory of French excellence designs infinite shapes and decorations, made possible by the versatility of silver, integrating silversmithing into everyday objects with its art of the table. Christofle, a brilliant story, showcases nearly 1,000 pieces, ranging from jewelry and small table spoons to monumental vases exhibited at World’s Fairs, along with paintings, drawings, and posters reflecting the artistic evolution of the house.

By collaborating with iconic designers and creators like Gio Ponti, Andrée Putman, Karl Lagerfeld, and Pharrell Williams, Christofle reinvents traditional silversmithing. The house strives to renew its uses by incorporating bold decorations, its hallmark of originality: a huge highlight is the immense table in the final room on the first floor of the exhibition, literally shining with brilliance. Tea services, cutlery sets, and elaborate central decorative compositions—this silversmithing house elevates any table, from the Ritz to the Meurice and even the Lutetia. A major crush: the Cafetière Gigogne created in 1926, with its ultra-minimalist design and almost futuristic aesthetic.

This immersive retrospective unveils the silversmith’s craft through a spectacular scenography and the lavish tables that marked Christofle’s history. From the grand dinners of the 19th century to modern, designer cups and services created for private jets, visitors circle the set tables and showcases to examine the sublime pieces on display.

The walls of the exhibition path, deliberately left bare, contrast sharply with the works. Picture cinderblock walls, pure industrial brutalism, and right in front, nestled in a showcase, a teapot so intricately adorned that you have to press your reflection against its silver surface to fully appreciate its detail. Silversmith to kings and presidents, Christofle's grand services adorn the most majestic tables, embodying the great art of French hospitality.

Christofle, a brilliant story. Musée des Arts Décoratifs, until April 20, 2025. Entry from €15.

© Musée des Arts décoratifs/ Christophe Delliere

© Museum of Decorative Arts - C. Toraldo di Francia Superstudio, Archivio Filottrano.

The Museum of Decorative Arts tidies up its Department Store and unveils a new, ultra-sexy exhibit starting October 15. An installation that explores the evolution of the notion of intimacy, from the 18th century to today, as intimacy is a subject at the heart of our lives, from the bedroom to social media, through makeup, sexuality, surveillance drones, and facial recognition! Shall we take you there?

What is the common point between a drone, a powder compact, a camera, and a bed? All these elements touch upon a form of our intimacy. Through decorative art objects, contemporary works, everyday items, and recent technologies, the new exhibit at the Museum of Decorative Arts shows how the notion of intimacy, born in the 18th century and reinforced in the 19th century, has completely transformed over time. The themes covered are highly diverse, ranging from the bedroom seen by Henri Cartier-Bresson, to the zinc bathtub, to beauty through the ages, to sexuality.

The 14 rooms making up the exhibit are packed with more than 470 works and common objects you’ll 100% recognize from your daily life: lipsticks, mirrors, steamy books, beds from the most modern to the oldest… and even sex toys! You will surely recognize yourself in some of the intimate objects whose journey explains their emergence, origin, and evolution.

In this anti-boring exhibit, some parts are even interactive. Camera phones are available for taking selfies, while designer perfumes from various periods are displayed in showcases with a small button so you can smell the delightful scents. Our favorites: Opium by Yves Saint Laurent, launched in 1977, or J’adore by Dior, dressing women's skin since 1999! Some (quite explicit) photographs are also displayed, so be careful when choosing your +1…

At the end of the exhibition, you might come across blank books to write in, but be warned: they’re not guestbooks, but actual works of art. The instructions? You must write your own vision of the notion of intimacy on these pages. The Museum of Decorative Arts, more than just an exhibition venue, turns out to be a true space for reflection.

The intimate, from the bedroom to social media. Museum of Decorative Arts. From October 15, 2024, to March 30, 2025. Online reservations.

© RMN, Grand Palais (Musée d’Orsay) Hervé Lewandowsk - MAD, Paris, Ph. Laszlo Horvath - Zanele Muholi, Bona Charlottesville, Galerie Kvasnevski.