INFO MEDIA Petit h fait son cinéma

Project from HEAD – Genève Master in Spaces and Communication

Hermès Boutique, 39 rue du Rhône Geneva

from November 4th until November 19th 2016

For its Petit h sale in Geneva, Maison Hermès has for the first time invited HEAD – Genève Master in Spaces and Communicationstudents, to create the showcase for its collection under the direction of Alexandra Midal. Students at the Geneva University of Art and Design have developed a comprehensive design, including invitation cards, window displays, signage, set design, ingenious display units and immersive fitting rooms.

The creation of Petit h objects stems from a unique process, bringing together the ‘magical’ touch of a variety of trades within Maison Hermès, including exceptional craftspeople and knowledgeable experts, and artists and designers commissioned to design new functional objects. Much like Petit h’s creative laboratory that matches materials with know-how, ‘Petit h fait son cinema’ (lit. Petit h does its cinema) takes visitors behind the scenes of a film studio and into a factory that creates original stories. The Petit h objects become actors, the protagonists of unusual adventures, who play the main role in short sketches that unfurl in dreamlike landscapes all the way down to the ground floor.

The set design reinterprets the technical codes of studios: the window displays adopt the 16:9 ratio of technicolour Hollywood films; the shape of the tubular structures draws a text box that resemble title cards in silent films; and the omnipresent blue tones cover surfaces as in special effects studios.

In the hallway, thanks to this inlaying process and by echoing the animation in the window displays, visitors see themselves immersed in the fluffy and abstract stretches of a film.

Unique surprises await visitors at rue du Rhône until november 19th 2016.