Fashion plates
Meet the artist who ties pattern to porcelain.
AN EXT RAO RDINARY personal collection of 10,000 vintage scarves is testament to Benoît-pierre Emery’s passion for pattern. As creative director of Objets et La Table at Hermès, he is the artistic powerhouse behind some of the brand’s most popular porcelain. In his recent Tie Set collection, he experimented with his love of graphic details.
Benoît-pierre immersed himself in art early on but after stints at the Paris École nationale supérieure des Arts Décoratifs and London’s Royal College of Art he became drawn to fashion and graphic art. “Studying in London was free, experimental and creative. I learnt to collaborate with other people there.” This is a creative freedom he also finds at Hermès. “You have to know the house story but also feel free to express something new,” he says.
He has designed some of Hermès’s most successful scarves and the porcelain ranges: Voyage en Ikat and Rallye 24 in collaboration with his friend Damian O’sullivan, Carnets d’equateur from Robert Dallet’s exquisite drawings and, most recently, Tie Set using tie patterns by Philippe Mouquet. “From a certain distance the design can look like one colour. I like this effect and that’s why I wanted to work on a micro scale of patterns – a big change from the last collection, Carnets d’equateur, which was classic and storytelling.
“Philippe has been designing ties for 20 years and I asked him to open his archive and show me all his designs. We worked together on 40 combinations – a different pattern for each piece. It is a very complex process and we had to redraw them as the technique of printing a silk scarf is not the same as printing on porcelain which has to be more precise.”
Much experimentation was needed to decide which pattern applied to which shape. “It was like trying on an outfit and some patterns just didn’t suit some shapes,” he laughs.
Benoît-pierre is inspired by design challenges and his long to-do list includes assembling an exhibition of his scarf collection, and trying his hand at furniture design.“i still have my little atelier in the Marais. I try to spend at least a day a week there. I just take a moment to calm down and think – I also have a secret goal to find time to paint.” hermes.com