Celebrating the 10th anniversary of Maison & Objet's product design trade show Now! Design a Vivre, design-world godfather Philippe Starck and Intramuros editor Chantal Hamaide chose 10 rising French stars to usher in a new decade of design. Fear not, Francophobes--these guys actually epitomize all the current trends whizzing around the design world--warts and all--from environmental commentary to DIY grunge to blog-friendly wit. It's a perfect picture of product design today--but is it a pretty one? Get to know these names and decide for yourself.

5.5 is actually four designers: Vincent Baranger, Jean-Sébastien Blanc, Anthony Lebossé, and Claire Renard. They're masters of that blog-friendly, one-hit-wit that animates a lot of today's design. It's not necessarily a bad thing--they're usually pretty funny, like their Most Honest chocolate bar for the equally irreverent Spanish designers at Chocolat Factory (check out their wacky website--wear headphones). But what they gain in tweets they lose in practicality. Take their furniture line for coincasa, which debuted at Milan last year: it's a two-legged table supported, a little dubiously, by a lamp, a pointless book stand, and a birdcage (huh?). (Video interview here.)

5.5 is actually four designers: Vincent Baranger, Jean-Sébastien Blanc, Anthony Lebossé, and Claire Renard. They're masters of that blog-friendly, one-hit-wit that animates a lot of today's design. It's not necessarily a bad thing--they're usually pretty funny, like their Most Honest chocolate bar for the equally irreverent Spanish designers at Chocolat Factory (check out their wacky website--wear headphones). But what they gain in tweets they lose in practicality. Take their furniture line for coincasa, which debuted at Milan last year: it's a two-legged table supported, a little dubiously, by a lamp, a pointless book stand, and a birdcage (huh?). (Video interview here.)

Gilles Belley plays with our perception of energy consumption--a hot topic these days--by using a simple but effective arsenal of, well, stuff that glows. Nootan is a line of nice, minimalist light switches (that glow). The Electrical Semaphore glows orange during peak hours of national energy use so you can limit your TV-watching for a less-taxing time for the grid. He made his biggest splash with the Energy Saver, a power strip that, you guessed it, glows to show the wasted energy your gadgets eat up when they're plugged in but not doing anything.

Gilles Belley plays with our perception of energy consumption--a hot topic these days--by using a simple but effective arsenal of, well, stuff that glows. Nootan is a line of nice, minimalist light switches (that glow). The Electrical Semaphore glows orange during peak hours of national energy use so you can limit your TV-watching for a less-taxing time for the grid. He made his biggest splash with the Energy Saver, a power strip that, you guessed it, glows to show the wasted energy your gadgets eat up when they're plugged in but not doing anything.

Sam Baron is the director of the Fabrica design department, the Benetton R&D lab/talent incubator in Treviso where he works with young designers to develop projects from interactive digital media to wall drawings. But Baron's baguette and butter is ceramics--weird ceramics, like his aptly-named Bizarre collection, featuring bulbous salt-and-pepper shakers with grafted-on rabbit heads. Or Royal Actual for Vista Alegre, in which cup handles morph into an overgrown tangle of vines. On a visit to the Bosa ceramics factory, one story goes, he saw thousands of discarded, defective plates, and decided he would simply amputate the blemish and release them like that.

Sam Baron is the director of the Fabrica design department, the Benetton R&D lab/talent incubator in Treviso where he works with young designers to develop projects from interactive digital media to wall drawings. But Baron's baguette and butter is ceramics--weird ceramics, like his aptly-named Bizarre collection, featuring bulbous salt-and-pepper shakers with grafted-on rabbit heads. Or Royal Actual for Vista Alegre, in which cup handles morph into an overgrown tangle of vines. On a visit to the Bosa ceramics factory, one story goes, he saw thousands of discarded, defective plates, and decided he would simply amputate the blemish and release them like that.

Michel Charlot isn't just another Jasper Morrison wannabe, mimicking his "super normal" philosophy of objects that fit into our daily lives subtly but perfectly. With an emphasis on materials, he actually pulls it off. After winning a grant from Ikea in 2007, he developed a beautiful cast-aluminum stool (anticipating the trend, maybe). He uses simple materials perfectly, like the heavy green glass in his table lamp, or the folded steel sheets in his table-top boxes. His most popular work, though, is also his most unexpected: Mold, a lamp made out of cast concrete that emphasizes its imperfections instead of its purity.

Michel Charlot isn't just another Jasper Morrison wannabe, mimicking his "super normal" philosophy of objects that fit into our daily lives subtly but perfectly. With an emphasis on materials, he actually pulls it off. After winning a grant from Ikea in 2007, he developed a beautiful cast-aluminum stool (anticipating the trend, maybe). He uses simple materials perfectly, like the heavy green glass in his table lamp, or the folded steel sheets in his table-top boxes. His most popular work, though, is also his most unexpected: Mold, a lamp made out of cast concrete that emphasizes its imperfections instead of its purity.

Constance Guisset worked at Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec's studio for six years, and you can tell--their trademark friendly, naturalistic luxury must have rubbed off. Her Dancing Chair is made up of intersecting ribbons of bent wood, like the Bouroullec's branch-like Vegetal chair for Vitra. Fiat Lux is more of an art piece--the lamp turns on when you touch it with a magnetized ball, and then holds the ball in mid-air with its magnetic field--but the Tri3 garbage can with separate compartments for recyclables is a practical but playful solution to a household problem.

Constance Guisset worked at Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec's studio for six years, and you can tell--their trademark friendly, naturalistic luxury must have rubbed off. Her Dancing Chair is made up of intersecting ribbons of bent wood, like the Bouroullec's branch-like Vegetal chair for Vitra. Fiat Lux is more of an art piece--the lamp turns on when you touch it with a magnetized ball, and then holds the ball in mid-air with its magnetic field--but the Tri3 garbage can with separate compartments for recyclables is a practical but playful solution to a household problem.

Joachim Jirou-Najou's work is the most beautiful of the lot--simple, of course (that's the buzzword for this bunch) but with just enough decorative flair to make them stick. His Portée series of colorful lacquered steel shelves and seats is a bit over-the-top, but check out Goldleaf, a series of wooden serving bowls with perfect golden rims, or his Around shelving unit: a basic bookcase that disappears behind a beautiful fabric curtain.

Joachim Jirou-Najou's work is the most beautiful of the lot--simple, of course (that's the buzzword for this bunch) but with just enough decorative flair to make them stick. His Portée series of colorful lacquered steel shelves and seats is a bit over-the-top, but check out Goldleaf, a series of wooden serving bowls with perfect golden rims, or his Around shelving unit: a basic bookcase that disappears behind a beautiful fabric curtain.

Mathieu Lehanneur epitomizes the new school of thought MoMA captured in the Design and the Elastic Mind show--a heady cocktail of science-nerd, wit, and beauty. Local River is meant to replace a locavore's pantry with a freshwater aquarium for breeding fish that's kept clean by a floating vegetable garden. His Age of the World jars for Issey Miyake turn population pyramids into household objects. And Andrea (actually featured in Elastic Mind) is a plant-powered air-filtering system, and one of Popular Science's Inventions of the Year in 2008.

Mathieu Lehanneur epitomizes the new school of thought MoMA captured in the Design and the Elastic Mind show--a heady cocktail of science-nerd, wit, and beauty. Local River is meant to replace a locavore's pantry with a freshwater aquarium for breeding fish that's kept clean by a floating vegetable garden. His Age of the World jars for Issey Miyake turn population pyramids into household objects. And Andrea (actually featured in Elastic Mind) is a plant-powered air-filtering system, and one of Popular Science's Inventions of the Year in 2008.

Philippe Nigro's best piece is a fresh take on a recent meme. Have you seen those clamp-on legs for build-your-own tables? Nigro's Universal Table for VIA is way better: simpler, stronger, sleeker. His Build-Up chair for Skitsch riffs on Ghery's wiggle chair for Vitra, but gives it a similar DIY twist, following the trend for customizable, buildable houseware.

Philippe Nigro's best piece is a fresh take on a recent meme. Have you seen those clamp-on legs for build-your-own tables? Nigro's Universal Table for VIA is way better: simpler, stronger, sleeker. His Build-Up chair for Skitsch riffs on Gehry's wiggle chair for Vitra, but gives it a similar DIY twist, following the trend for customizable, buildable houseware.

They're practically un-Google-able, but Normal Studio probably likes it that way. They're in the same boat as Michel Charlot, if a little snarkier--they trade in subtlety. Founded in 2006 by Jean-François Dingjian and Eloi Chafaï, Normal puts out simple stuff like their Paysages line of dishes for Ligne Roset. But their best work has a twist: Their redesign of Tolix's classic A Chair, for example, is the original chair poked full of holes, and their rubber-coated wine glasses bring a pliers-handle touch to chichi stemware.

They're practically un-Google-able, but Normal Studio probably likes it that way. They're in the same boat as Michel Charlot, if a little snarkier--they trade in subtlety. Founded in 2006 by Jean-François Dingjian and Eloi Chafaï, Normal puts out simple stuff like their Paysages line of dishes for Ligne Roset. But their best work has a twist: Their redesign of Tolix's classic A Chair, for example, is the original chair poked full of holes, and their rubber-coated wine glasses bring a pliers-handle touch to chichi stemware.

Marie-Aurore Stiker-Metral has had a short career (she's only been out of school for three years) but a damn lucky one. In 2007, Michel Roset (as in Ligne Roset) spotted her La Pliée chair, made out of bent steel sheets, and decided to produce it as part of a whole line. Her woven Du Bois et des Fils chair is even nicer. It grew out of her thesis project at Ensci, supervised by Erwan Bouroullec (yes, that Bouroullec), that examined plaiting and weaving as furniture-making techniques.

Marie-Aurore Stiker-Metral has had a short career (she's only been out of school for three years) but a damn lucky one. In 2007, Michel Roset (as in Ligne Roset) spotted her La Pliée chair, made out of bent steel sheets, and decided to produce it as part of a whole line. Her woven Du Bois et des Fils chair is even nicer. It grew out of her thesis project at Ensci, supervised by Erwan Bouroullec (yes, that Bouroullec), that examined plaiting and weaving as furniture-making techniques.