Every April, PAD Paris opens its doors and lets the design, art, and objects speak for themselves. Now in its 28th edition, PAD, the Pavillon des Arts et du Design, was the first fair of its kind when Patrick Perrin founded it in 1998. Running from April 8 to 12, 2026, this year’s gathering brought together 77 international galleries, some traveling from as far as Singapore, others from the 6th arrondissement just a short walk away. The result is one of the most intimate and genuinely pleasurable design experiences the fair calendar has to offer.
What distinguishes PAD from larger, more overwhelming fairs is precisely this sense of intimacy. The stands are dense with intention. You find yourself stopping, doubling back, reconsidering. There is no rush here, no pressure to consume. You are invited, instead, to look at what skilled hands and thoughtful minds can make.
A Fair With a Point of View
One of the most striking things about this year’s show is the collective instinct running through it: animals, everywhere. In ceramics, bronzes, and furniture, creatures have wandered in with personalities. Against an era of abstraction and the endless scroll, PAD quietly insists that objects need presence, character, and something close to a will of their own. It is a very human kind of curation.
The dialogue between historical and contemporary design was never more eloquently argued than this year. At Laffanour/Galerie Downtown, a cabinet conceived in 1961 by Le Corbusier and sculptor-cabinetmaker Joseph Savina stopped visitors in their tracks: pale wood contrasting with aquatic reliefs carved against green drawers, an extraordinary object that won this year’s Historic Design Prize. Nearby, Dumonteil Design’s presentation of Aurélien Veyrat’s chest in brick marquetry on second-hand furniture earned the Contemporary Design Prize. It was upcycling elevated, as the jury noted.
Standout Moments
Perhaps the most talked-about booth was that of YVES SALOMON ÉDITIONS, making its gleaming debut at PAD. At its heart it is a conversation between the extraordinary furniture of Carlo Bugatti and newly commissioned works created in partnership with Dimore Studio. More than a century separates these pieces, yet they resonate together through shared sensibilities such as ornament, material richness, and a willingness to challenge convention. It is a study in lineage and reinvention, and it extends beyond the fair into the Maison’s Parisian salons.
Carpenters Workshop Gallery returned with a presentation anchored by Ingrid Donat’s Lilia outdoor collection, surrounded by work by Wendell Castle, Vincenzo De Cotiis, and others. They are a quiet argument for the expressive power of functional art across generations. At Galerie Desprez Breheret, a Jean Touret snake floor lamp from around 1950 wound its way through memory and modernism in equal measure.
Then there was the Best Stand award, which went to Romain Morandi for a surrealist presentation where unique furniture and small editions moved in the spirit of André Breton, swinging between the pioneers of the early 20th century and the avant-garde of the 1980s and 90s. It was the kind of booth you wanted to move into.
The Special Jury Prize, meanwhile, went to Maison Intègre, founded in Ouagadougou in 2017, whose fifteen craftsmen fashion furniture and objects in lost-wax bronze from recycled metals and natural materials. Theirs is a practice of transmission and local knowledge enriched by international collaborations, and a reminder that design’s most meaningful conversations are never only about aesthetics.
The Broader Paris Moment
PAD does not exist in isolation. This week, just across the Seine, Art Paris returned to the newly restored Grand Palais for its own 28th edition and featuring a dedicated design section with names like India Mahdavi and Emma Donnersberg. The two fairs together create something rare: a week in which the entire city feels tuned to the frequency of making things well.
Galerie Amélie du Chalard offered one of the more poetic footnotes of the season: a reinterpreted reconstruction of Claude Monet’s studio, conceived for the centenary of the painter’s death, blending contemporary creations, antique furniture, and the work of French artisans that felt as much like theater as design.
Why It Matters
PAD Paris matters because it takes collecting seriously without taking itself too seriously. It is rigorous in its selection, generous in its range, and deeply committed to the idea that living with beautiful objects is one of the more intelligent things a person can do. Whether you come as a collector, a designer, or simply someone who wants to see what is possible when craft and vision meet, the Tuileries in April is the place to be.
The fair runs through April 12. If you find yourself in Paris, the entrance facing rue de Castiglione in the 1st arrondissement is your door in. What you carry out will be worth far more than the price of admission.