Hermès Maison pays homage to leather
Hermès’ new collection for the home features leather, its use re-engages with the first act of the saddler and harness-maker: it dresses objects as it dressed the horse. More precisely, the leather today reveals the objects as formerly it exposed the body of the horse. Renowned for their finesse, Hermès harnesses relieved the animal of the ceremonial trappings that concealed it and hampered its movements. The leather harness re-established full visibility of the physical beauty of the horse, and at the same time liberated its dynamic potential. The operation was twofold: aesthetic — rendering visible — and functional — rendering mobile.
Combined here with light maple wood, lacquer, wicker, crystal or metal, leather rediscovers this original act. It reveals more than it masks, it structures the object more than it decorates. It unburdens. It purifies. As a lid, it completes a box. As a strap, it underlines the transparency of a vase whose dimensions it shapes. As a bridle, it configures the disorientating geometry of the Groom attelé, an indoor harness designed to hold, hang or hook. As sheathing, it offers all of its softness and warmth to the hands that push the Diligence, a serving trolley in wickerwork and wood. And this is perhaps the most important aspect of this art de vivre: to appeal to the senses, to give pleasure, to feel good at home. In this paradoxical house that is constantly moving towards the essential, where objects and furniture seek to be captivating, it is abundantly clear: links are liberating!
Leather reduced to its quintessence, a simple line with the freedom to meander. In homage to the house’s first métier — as a harness and saddlemaker — it is the bridle’s motif and design that inspire this collection. The same stitches, the same fastenings as the original object, and yet, each time, a metamorphosis, played out in a game of balance and crossroads. recognise a coat hanger, a log basket, a wine rack. Alongside them, a brain-teaser conceived from a bit invites us to pull the bridle out from the metal, while a perpetual calendar knots and unknots the loops of time.
The collection is designed by Studio Hermès in collaboration with Guillaume Delvigne and Damian O’Sullivan.
The Équipages d’Hermès collection is based on a simple idea: each piece of furniture has its use. Objects of savoir-faire, as sophisticated as they are discreet, each of these unusual forms holds its own secret. Luminous and sensual leather lining a stool that doubles as a hiding place, an oak writing desk and small work table that can be adapted at will, a serving trolley whose framework evokes the diligence carriages of days gone by.
Playing with the harmonics of leather and wood, bringing in wickerwork and brass, these valet pieces, accessories to daily life, light-heartedly punctuate the living space and invite one to enjoy them in a variety of ways.
With the Karumi, the forms of two stools and a bench are drawn in bamboo-like simple strokes of light. Designed by the architect Alvaro Siza, winner of the Pritzker Prize in 1992, they have been worked by Japanese master craftsmen who have linked carbon fibre with this extremely lightweight material. This innovative technique, marrying tradition and high-tech, has enabled them to strengthen the bamboo while retaining its pure line, resulting in pieces that are as light as their silhouette.
Hermès Maison collection is available at the Hermès boutique in Greenbelt 3, Makati.