Since 1837, the year the first artisan workshop was opened in Paris, Hermès has diversified unremittingly and now the brand boasts sixteen product families, all proudly featuring artisan know-how, sartorial care, quality of materials and manufacture and attention to the details.
These same distinctive elements can be seen in the extension and renovation project of the showroom inside Liat Tower in Orchard Road under the guidance of RDAI’s Rena Dumas and Denis Montel, thirty years after the original opening.
Back in operation for some months, the fashion house’s sales and exhibition area now covers four floors connected by a glass lift or a more scenic, slightly asymmetrical staircase, lit by the large openings that create a visual link with the city outside.
The whole of the last floor, Aloft at Hermès, houses one of the five contemporary art galleries run by the Hermès Enterprise Foundation and, descending towards the entrance located in Anguilla Park, on the third floor is the company’s home universe with furniture, accessories, fabrics, porcelain and crystal, including collections for picnics and horse riding.
Women’s clothing and footwear, the famous leather goods and the fine silks occupy the second floor, which is set back from the façade offering an observation point of the geometry of the interior levels of the building.
The simpler context of these two floors, dominated by large windows, discreet shafts of light, the white plaster and the reddish colour of the African teak on floors and display cases, becomes more elaborate on the first floor: in a more intimate and private room for exhibiting jewellery and watches, the showcases are integrated in turmeric-coloured walls, the same colour as the wool carpets that cover the floor, embellished with the classic Faubourg mosaic.
On leaving, the clean lines can be seen of the new white enclosure in glass and Alucobond®, designed to illuminate the interior and at the same time provide protection against the tropical climate.
Client: Hermès
Architecture and Interior design: RDAI Rena Dumas Denis Montel
Artistic Director: Denis Montel
Project Architect: Dominique Hebrard, Assistant Architect JÈrÙme Delafosse
Furnishings: on design
Photo credits: Masao Nishikawa
