Hermès chose to present its new home collections with a beautiful installation at the city’s Museo della Permanente,
Comprising an eclectic line of objects, furnishings, fabrics, and wallpapers. the new colletions for the home are presented within an architectural project conceived by Charlotte Macaux Perelman, co-artistic director of Hermès maison together with Alexis Fabry.
It took Hermès three weeks to create what feels like a mini-village of seven pavilions of varying scales with doors and apertures creating dramatic lighting effects inside.
The Museum was transformed into a dramatic setting with soaring structures clad in 150,000 handmade glazed tiles from Morocco rendered in shades of turquoise, amber, sea green, sienna and more.
The installation consists of a series of seven oversized architectural structures, each a different colour and covered in glossy Moroccan zellige, ( a small square tile made of glazed earthenware tiles ) which parade through the space in a game of perspective that evokes some kind of ancient tribal city.
At the installation’s entrance, a café space – also fitted out with blocks covered in colourful tiles – gives visitors the chance to discover the new collection’s tableware offering, entitled “A Walk in the Garden” and decorated with drawings by Irish artist Nigel Peake.
Scenography designed by Hervé Sauvage plays up the graphic symbol of the square with rolls of paper drawn by hand that act as a background to the objects.
Each differently sized space is fitted out with blocks, shelves or display stands, themselves tiled and blown up to gigantic proportions.
Each room hosts one or other family of objects, such as small furnishings, vases, porcelain, trays, leather accessories, games, lacquered boxes, wallpaper or fabrics.
The overarching theme is colour with exteriors and interiors tiled in two different shades; inside each one geometric blocks, chunky shelves, stairs, hooks and display stands exhibit the new pieces.
Visitors are ‘dipped in color’ as they walk through the installation
The imposing architecture is meant to contrast the whimsical, detail-oriented pieces that make up the collection.
Rigour and fantasy are at the heart of the Hermès home collections.
Whether individual of mixed, colour holds a special place in this balance, punctuating interiors and tracing the designs’ narrative.
” We wanted to work with scale. Most of the pieces this year are small so we created towering structures; the height is emphasised by the use of stairs in the scenography,” …………… Charlotte Macaux Perelman, co-artistic director at Hermès Maison.
The tangram also appears in a hand-woven fabric carefully dyed to result in an alluring mix of pigments.
“A Walk in the Garden” tableware created by artist Nigel Peake for the Périmètre porcelain pieces, feature graphic designs and exuberant hues
High hooks display blankets, or ‘Plaids’ like beach towels, there are six geometrical and equeestrian designs handwoven and printed in 100 per cent cashmere and also a cashmere and merino wool mix
With its history as a saddle maker, there’s no escaping exquisite leather details and pieces at Hermès.
Exemplifying Hermès leather crafsmanship and equestrian heritage are these centre pieces constructed from bridle leather
The Pli’h series—decorative desk objects crafted out of a single sheet of Bridle leather and held together with four stitches of white linen thread.
Drawing inspiration from this puzzle, Italian artist and designer Gianpaolo Pagni created a mesmerising combination of colours and shapes.
This is most evident in the covetable Tangram lacquer boxes—the paint is applied with a sponge to create more depth and a perfectly imperfect finish.
Bricks, louvres and palisades are graphically rendered on trays and vases, all in exuberant hues.
Lines and grids also feature heavily elsewhere but these patterns are juxtaposed with natural elements—find it in the reinvention of the tartan print by Nigel Peake to the geometric wallpapers and fabrics.
Each house showcases pieces from the collection, displayed here are the Périmètre porcelain vases designed by Gianpaolo Pagnie are highlighted against the dark glossy zellige tiles, Mosaic del Sur are the manufacturer of the stunning tiles.
During the invitation-opening evening, Austrian choreographer Willi Dorner emphasized the architecture of the site with a live performance of dancers that engaged in an athletic interaction with the installation.
Dressed in Parkour-style sportswear that was naturally shared the same palette of the tiles.
Throughout the duration of Milan Design Week, Hermès activated the urban landscape with ephemeral graffiti.
Each morning at 10am, an artists’ collective took to the streets to reinterpret Hermès new wallpaper patterns, chalking them on the ground in some of the Milan Furniture Fair’s most iconic locations, from the chic Via della Spiga to the Triennale museum, passing through the streets of hip neighbourhood Brera.
The graffiti is cleared before reappearing the next morning.
La Permanente
Via Turati 34
