FANTASTIC BEASTS
As an exhibition celebrating the artisanship of Hermès hits Melbourne, British artist Alice Shirley lifts the veil, or shall we say scarf, on the magic behind one of the house heroes
A new exhibition celebrates the intricate detail that goes into all Hermès designs, including the nature-inspired scarves.
WHEN I WAS A LITTLE GIRL, I SPENT A LOT OF TIME PRETENDING TO BE ANIMALS. I always wanted to be powerful creatures like wolves or tigers or leopards or horses. I find the belief that you can transform into an animal spirit, which is an intrinsic part of traditional cultures, very interesting. In most mythologies in Central and South America, the jaguar is a symbol of power and fierceness. The Aztec warriors had their jaguar knights, who were the most elite warriors, and in this design I’ve got the jaguar sleeping, dreaming about being a warrior. When I’m making a scarf design, I think about pattern and texture – so you’ve got the quetzal feathers and the leopard print, but you’ve also got the jungle foliage and the native Mexican flowers and the butterfly wings. The elements provide an interesting contrast. NATURE IS A WONDERFUL PLACE TO FIND INSPIRATION, and mythology and storytelling as well. One of the first areas I explored was Aesop’s Fables because these anthropomorphic creatures all represent us – the fox is cunning, the wolf is greedy, the lion is strong. It was these human characteristics in the animals I found interesting. I did my own edition of Aesop’s Fables, illustrated it and wrote it. It was a children’s book that I did just after I graduated, and it’s one of the things in my portfolio that helped me get a foot in the door with Hermès. ONE THING I HAD TO LEARN is there is “Hermès time” for everything. So, from me handing over my first design, I didn’t see it in the shops for two years. It’s a seriously intricate process. I went to the Hermès factory in Lyon where they print all the silk and saw the process from start to finish, which was amazing. They scan the design, then one person engraves the entire design and that means they separate out all the colours and create screens, so each colour is printed separately onto the design. Then all the hems are hand-rolled. When you see how much work goes into one scarf you realise they’re not expensive for what they are. They’re pieces of art you can live in. I’VE BEEN INSPIRED BY MANY ARTISTS. I love Indian miniatures, particularly the royal paintings of Jodhpur – it’s an incredible collection that hugely inspires this style of painting I created for Hermès. And I love Nicola Hicks’ work – she’s a sculptor who explores the relationship between the animal and the figurative, and storytelling and myths, and she mixes in politics, too. It’s powerful work. SOMETHING I READ WHILE DOING MY ART DEGREE is that art is essentially play – when you are creating, you’re trying things out, you’re making mistakes, you’re trying again and playing. And this attitude of play is what makes creativity happen – you don’t just come up with a fully crystallised idea every time and just do it. You have to sketch first, you have to do drawings, you have to imagine and dream in order to create. THE FIRST TIME I SAW SOMEONE WEARING MY DESIGN was when I was in [London’s] Victoria And Albert Museum. I was in the shop and I saw a woman wearing my Zebra Pegasus scarf and I rushed up to her and I was like, “That’s my design! You’re the first person I’ve seen it on.” We had a chat and I was so excited. I get a real thrill when I see people wearing my scarves. I wear mine most days and my family get given a lot of scarves for Christmases and birthdays. It’s something you can hand down to your children.
DON’T MISS: Meet the artisans at Hermès At Work, from March 8 to 17 at Melbourne Town Hall; hermesatworkau. hermes.com
“When you see how much work goes into one Hermès scarf, you realise they’re pieces of art you can live in”