Transformism exhibition by Harry Nuriev at Maison & Objet 2026 – Photo by ©Anne-Emmanuelle Thion, courtesy of M&O.
Design. As this year’s Maison & Objet Designer of the Year, Harry Nuriev, founder of Crosby Studios, presents Transformism, an immersive installation that explores how history can be revealed through a contemporary gaze. Visitors step into an all-metallic environment, seemingly suspended in time, where ordinary objects such as vintage chairs, sunglasses, gadgets, lighting and home appliances are reborn as icons and the future glimmers through the lens of the past.
The items are freed from labels as past and future gently dissolve. Heritage, innovation and the everyday are reframed through a single lens: perception. Nuriev invites visitors to disengage from ideas of what is “old” or “new” and experience each piece as something timeless, stripped of hierarchy and convention. A touch of discomfort becomes a catalyst, as change occurs not through addition but through reinterpretation.
Transformism is the designer’s creative manifesto. Nuriev believes that “before we create something new, we should look around and think if there is anything that has another chance for a second life. Something we can transform and reinvent.”
“All philosophies, colours and shapes were explored in the last few centuries. There’s no need to work on the new.” Today, more than ever, we have access to infinite data, archives, everyday objects and innovations. “It’s a great time for sitting down, looking around, and beginning to repurpose and reuse.” According to Nuriev’s manifesto, Transformism is the creative ability to reimagine, twist and add another layer to the past.
BALENCIAGA SOFA at Design Miami – Photo by James Harris.
Nuriev’s practice spans design, interiors and exhibitions, blending collectible design with art and vernacular objects. His Balenciaga Sofa upcycles unsellable garments and off-cuts from the fashion house’s warehouse. At Design Parade 2025 in the Côte d’Azur, he showcased a table with seats made from keyboards, alongside a canopy bed dressed in a patchwork of T-shirts.
Photo by Luc Bertrand.
More recently, he scaled up a shoe until it comically burst through the front window of Jimmy Choo’s Miami flagship store. For Art Basel Paris, the Objets Trouvés project transformed consumerism into a participatory installation: Parisians’ forgotten or unneeded belongings became works of art, catalogued and displayed like masterpieces. Visitors could bring an unwanted item and collect another in exchange [Find out more].
- RELATED STORIES: Read more about Harry Nuriev and Crosby Studios on Archipanic.
Objets Trouvés, Harry Nuriev at the Petits-Augustins chapel in Paris – Photo by Harry Nuriev.
Photos of the Transformism exhibition are by Anne-Emmanuelle Thion, courtesy of Maison & Objet.
Crosby Studios x Jimmy Choo at Miami Design District – Courtesy of Jimmy Choo.
Photo by Luc Bertrand.
