A decade after relocating its Melbourne flagship store to Harley House, a heritage-listed 1924 office building by architect Sydney Wigham Smith, French fashion house Hermès has given the premises another major upgrade, created by Paris-based architecture practice and longtime collaborator RDAI. The various settings take cues from the city’s abundance of European architecture as well as Australia‘s scenic landscapes and coastline. On the ground floor, the natural wood and the bespoke fabrics’ spectrum of greens give shoppers the sense of being immersed in a tropical rainforest. Needless to say, many of Hermès‘ emblematic design elements can be found here, such as the Faubourg mosaic and Grècque light fixtures.
Upstairs, warmer floral tones of orange, ochre and pink evoke the vibrant hues of spring. Similar to other Hermès retail spaces, the premises are dotted with artworks from the Hermès collection of contemporary photographs and the Émile Hermès collection, such as the painting Portrait of the Scorpion Horse by the English painter Francis Sartorius. Especially for the reopening of the flagship store, French artist Hubert Crabières has created window installations which are inspired by Hermès’ theme of the year, which is In the spirit of the Faubourg, along with the artist’s memories and postcards of the city. The renewed Hermès flagship store stocks the full range of women’s and men’s collections, including jewellery and watches, and also its equestrian collection. © superfuture
Hermès
71 Collins Street (CBD)
Melbourne, VIC 3000
Telephone +61 3 96545571
Mon-Thu 10am-6pm
Fri 10am-7pm
Sat 10am-6pm
Sun 12pm-5pm
Publishers Note
Just to be clear – superfuture® is a design blog and not a political commentator. No surprise there. The scope of our content has always been global and borderless, however that can often mean covering projects in countries where we will not agree with the politics or actions of those countries. In a world that’s as screwed up as ever right now, the focus of our support is to those designers, architects and other creatives who aim to make the world a more liveable one – as opposed to people that try their hardest to destroy it. So if a project hits our desk and we like it based on its design credentials, we may choose to publish regardless of its location or creators nationality. superfuture® has always been inclusive and hopes for all current wars, aggression, violence, hate and extremism to end.
