A car transformed into a work of art and Korean hanji at the Hôtel de la Marine for Paris Design Week 2026

During Paris Design Week, design takes center stage in the capital and refuses to be confined to showroom spaces. Galleries, ateliers, institutions and monuments become stops on a route where new design voices, craft traditions and inspiring materials from designers and artisans come to life. A Paris-wide itinerary that bridges heritage with contemporary creation, featuring encounters that sometimes find their perfect setting. The new edition runs from September 10 to 19, 2026.

On Concorde Square, the Hôtel de la Marine is deliberately playing on two tracks with Hanjimania and Astre Mobile, presented from September 9 to 27, 2026 (opening for Hanjimania on the 10th). A refined showcase for decorative arts, the former Crown Storehouse houses, on one side, millennia-old Korean paper, and on the other, a transparent automobile shaped by artisans. The two installations will extend beyond Paris Design Week and will also be featured during the European Heritage Days, right in the heart of this 18th-century monument.

Paris Design Week 2026 : events taking over Paris's museums and institutions
Paris’s museums and institutions are giving design free rein with exhibitions and fresh creations to discover during Paris Design Week, September 10–19, 2026. [Read more]

With Hanjimania, paper gains presence. Curated by Catherine Lurault and An KangEun, the show pairs French designers with Korean craft expertise around hanji, made for over a thousand years from mulberry fibers. Pierre Yovanovitch, Constance Guisset, Aline Asmar d’Amman, Studio KO, Harry Nuriev and Jérémy Pradier-Jeauneau translate this material into furniture, lighting and more sculptural forms, alongside Korean masters and artists. This installation rejects flat paper: translucent, pleated, braided or thickened, it becomes a true design material. Co-organized with South Korea’s North Gyeongsang Province as part of the 140th anniversary of Franco-Korean diplomatic ties, the piece is included in the Hôtel de la Marine admission (paid ticket).

Just a few steps away, a different mood. In the Cour de l’Intendant, Astre Mobile transforms a transparent car into a total artwork, straddling Art Car and cabinet of curiosities. Created by Antoine Tauvel for Maison Lacmé, the piece brings together about ten French artisans around materials such as onyx, driftwood, leather, porcelain, urushi lacquer, feathers, shells and metallic embroidery. The dashboard features feather inlay, the hubcaps are carved from onyx, and the logo becomes a jewel, a creation born from drawing, maquettes and prototypes before passing into the hands of craftspeople. The first work born from this collaborative studio exploration, Astre Mobile shifts the car from mere object to gesture, material and imagination. It debuts at the Hôtel de la Marine and is open to the public for free, with no reservation required, in the Cour de l’Intendant.