Embrace – 2 nd prize Mélyna Baffert
Comfort as the absolute priority
me to want to ‘design the world around us,’ not to transform it radically, but to make it more sensitive, more welcoming.” The project is now coming off the 3D modelling screens to be handcrafted by Maison Elite’s artisans. A key moment when the fabric and curves will find their ultimate truth. “In all honesty, what I’m most looking forward to is the contact. Touching the bed, feeling the softness of the volumes and the velvet, the real density of the forms. In 3D, everything is visual, but a project like Embrace is profoundly tactile. You have to understand it with your hands as much as with your eyes.” Through this creation, the designer hopes to offer an object capable of standing the test of time: “I would love for the first emotion to be stability. A feeling of being anchored that is almost instinctive.”
Far from wanting to go against the codes because she enjoys being provocative, the designer has tried to make comfort visible from the very first glance. Inspired by the idea of the cocoon, the project adopts a sculptural aesthetic while remaining functional. For Mélyna Baffert, design must not compromise on wellbeing, turning an everyday object into a personal sanctuary in its own right: “Feeling deeply comfortable and safe is close to a form of authentic luxury.” A dialogue between design and craftsmanship Inspired by how we live in our bedrooms – places where we read, talk or dream – she designed Embrace as an enveloping structure. “I have been attracted to design and artistic practices since I was young. This naturally led
Embrace, The bed as a sensory sanctuary F orget the classic vision of a bed made up of a mattress and a bed base with four legs. For Mélyna Baffert, a Master’s in interior architecture student in Lyon and finalist in the Elite Design Awards, her Embrace bed is first and foremost an intimate space where you come to “let go”. With its wide protective bumpers and velvet, this project offers an approach to rest that focuses on a feeling of safety, an approach Mélyna describes as “sensory luxury.”
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ELITENESS 2026 | Inside Elite
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