Last week I was invited to view the unveiling of the new Zaha Hadid collection at Maison&Objet in Paris. Now, Paris is one of my favourite cities and I found Dame Zaha Hadid a totally inspirational woman, so before I knew it I was on the Eurostar headed for Gare du Nord.

Dame Zaha Hadid was an Iraqi-born British architect and she was the only female architect to receive the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2004. Hadid was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in 2012 and she was awarded the 2016 Royal Gold Medal, given in recognition of a lifetime’s work.

Hadid was a creator of highly expressive, sweeping fluid forms that evoke the chaos of modern life. Her acclaimed work and ground-breaking forms include the aquatic center for the London 2012 Olympics, the Broad Art Museum in the U.S., and the Guangzhou Opera House in China. She also undertook some high-profile interior work.

The Collection 2016

Hadid began developing Collection 2016 earlier this year, before her unexpected death. The collection is made up of scented candles, tableware and vases all created in her signature style and inspired by the fluidity of her unique architecture. The Collection explores contrast as a key element, in in both colour and materials. Fine bone china and ceramic are combined with modern resins and acrylics.

At the unveiling in Paris I was lucky to meet Christopher Howell, who showed me some of Dame Zaha’s original architectural drawings, which inspired the Collection 2016. Christopher is a lead product developer at Zaha Hadid, and worked on the Collection with Dame Zaha herself. He said that, as a creative, it was a dream to have such a huge archive to draw inspiration from for the pieces.

Here are just some of my favourite pieces that are available in this stunning collection:

The Solis Candles

The candles feature a fluid interlocking pattern and each scent has been personally selected by
Zaha Hadid.
Flare — Black/Gold: Orange Blossom, with notes of Seville bitter orange trees.
Equinox — Black/Silver: Woodland, with top notes of fresh cedar and pine needles.
Corona — White/Gold: Tuberose, a floral fragrance from the Polianthes Tuberose

Beam Dinner Service

Zaha Hadid was inspired by the Russian Suprematist artistic movement from the 1920s and in particular the work of one of its leading visionaries, Kazimir Malevich.
This range of fine bone china dinnerware is applying a visual abstraction of the Suprematist approach to both space and form, on its surface. The set is accented with gold leaf.

Illusion Dinner Service

This is my favourite set in the collection, I love the visual trickery formed by the linework to create the illusion of a three dimensional surface.

Icon

Mugs, Tea Cups & Saucers Tea Cup & Saucer
There are four designs in this set, each has been inspired by some of Zaha Hadid’s celebrated architectural achievements.

Zaha Hadid Icon Set in black

Icon Set in white

Sketch

Highball & Lowball Glasses
I love how subtle the etchings on these glasses are, two original sketches from the archives of
Zaha Hadid have been applied to high and low-ball drinking glassware to stunning effect.

I always enjoy spending time in Paris, but to combine it with with seeing this collection was an absolute pleasure!
Dame Zaha Hadid was an inspirational woman and she leaves a remarkable legacy.

Maison&Objet kicks off Paris design week and ran from 2-6 September this year.

The Collection 2016 will be stocked by Selfridges in the UK, Yoox in Italy, KaDeWe in Munich and Dopo Domani in Berlin.

The Unveiling of the Zaha Hadid Homeware Collection 2016 in Paris