Hermès A New Home
Client: Hermès
Artist Windows
King of Prussia, PA
Concept + Design
Production Management
Art Direction
Bespoke Fabrication
To celebrate a new home for Hermès at King of Prussia mall Heavy Eyes imagined whimsical "New Homes" for Hermès products in animal homes. Each of the 61 unique leather animals was prototyped, designed, and produced by hand. This type of design and construction process echoes that of the craftspeople in Hermès leather goods and shoe métiers, who create beautiful three-dimensional products from simple flat pieces.
Rainforest Roost
In the top of the jungle canopy, we imagined a home for families of Parrots and their nests. We created four pairs of Parrot parents tending to their babies who live in Hermès bags. The life sized birds and baby birds are made completely of leather, salvaged from the production process. Three leather chameleons are concealed among the leaves.
Coral Condos
Hermit crabs usually live in shells, but in our undersea window, they prefer to live in Hermès gloves and hats. Created in pink, red, and white Hermès leather, our hermits clamor over a beautiful painted reef. Coral are fabricated from CNC cut mdf panels and based on shapes from a Hermès silk scarf. One crab rests on a leather human skull. A enormous red leather octopus hovers over the reef, looking for tasty hermit crabs.
Desert Digs
In the desert, ants live in colonies underground and bring useful things they find down into their home. We designed and built 20 Hermès leather ants to live in our subterranean ant apartments. Ants work together to carry Hermès tableware and cutlery down into different chambers of their home. The ant colony itself is made from CNC cut and painted foam and mdf panels. A gigantic leather cow skull sits on the desert floor, while a hidden leather chameleon in a cactus looks on.
Polar Palace
In the arctic, two baby polar bears float in their iceberg home under the northern lights. Each cub is realized in white hermes leather, salvaged from the production process. The bears are warm in their geodesic igloo made of Hermès wallpaper and swaddled in Hermès baby blankets. They are fishing through a hole in the ice using a Hermès diamond bracelet as bait. Two Hermès leather penguins swim towards the hook. The iceberg, dome, and arctic night sky are created from CNC cut foam and painted mdf panels.
