Hermès takes over Milan during the Salone del Mobile

By

Dominique Muret

Published
Apr 19, 2018

Hermès runs little risk of disappointing visitors at the Salone del Mobile this year. A participant in the popular Furniture Fair since 2011, the French brand has organised no less than four initiatives around the Lombard capital for its 2018 edition, which runs until April 22nd. Among these events, the label has notably chosen to present its new homeware line with a beautiful installation at the city's La Permanente museum, 
 

The installation consists of a series of seven oversized houses, each a different colour and covered in glossy tiles, which parade through the space in a game of perspective that evokes some kind of ancient tribal city.  

The staging of the installation, conceived by Charlotte Macaux Perelman, assistant creative director at Hermès Maison alongside Alexis Fabry, puts one in mind of zelliges, those brightly coloured Moroccan tiles, conjuring up images of hammams and bringing a certain Middle Eastern feel to the space.

Each differently sized space is fitted out with blocks, shelves or display stands, themselves tiled and blown up to gigantic proportions. Continuing the oversized theme, coat hooks are also placed at unreachable heights, displaying the brand's cashmere throws, which hang from them like bath towels. 

Each room hosts one or other family of objects, such as small furnishings, vases, porcelain, trays, leather accessories, games, lacquered boxes, wallpaper or fabrics. 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. 

As for the brand's other events in Milan, Hermès is also proposing a visit to its showroom (Via Gastone Pisoni 2), which features a summery theme and has been decked out with a swimming pool blue floor, geometric shapes, California pink walls and trompe-l'œil vistas.

The brand's boutique on Via Montenapoleone, meanwhile, features the work of sculptor Markus Hofer, who has adorned the store's windows with architectural shapes and fluid constructions in a visual echo of Hermès Maison's 2018-19 collections. 

Last but not least, an artists' collective is taking to the streets to reinterpret Hermès 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.