The Soul Of Hermès Visits The Heart Of New York

After a long absence, Hermès has finally brought Petit h back to the New York Flagship Boutique at Madison Avenue.

Celebrating with an opening event that gave guests an overview of the wide range of items produced by this metièr, Hermès shone the spotlight on longstanding key values that have remained consistent throughout its history: creativity, lightheartedness, functionality, craftsmanship, and sustainability.

A beautiful inlaid stone-and-leather table was one of several at the Petit h installation.

A large mirror at the Madison flagship Petit h installation.

Sustainability Meets Heritage

Begun in 2010 by Pascale Mussard (FN1), a sixth-generation member of the Hermès family, and now run by creative director Godefroy de Virieu, petit h is emblematic of the corporate long-term goal of creating zero waste.

While that is a laudable aim in itself, it is the way in which Hermès has set out to achieve it that distinguishes the company and the department from every other business that prioritizes sustainability.

Creative and useful objects included wicker bags, wind socks, and plant holders.

These leather mushrooms double as a Hand Grip for exercise or a fidget soother.

Hermès has essentially turned sustainability into its own metièr, driving not only excess production materials to it but also the designers and craftspeople—the people behind the savoir-faire—necessary to produce desirable objects in themselves.

Directed by its open-ended objectives and imbued with a sense of lightheartedness, these designers dream up inventive yet functional and visually appealing concepts for re-combining materials from the other departments in ways that may seem unique in theory but natural in execution.

Eye-catching animal-themed card holders, wallets, lanyards, and envelopes brighten normally boring work items.

A stunning box bag with a chaîne d’Ancre closure and tactile leather briefcase.

Influences come from sources as varied as universal childhood pastimes (useful objects take on simple, recognizable shapes found in nature, like various flora and fauna) and local events (Flaco, the owl that escaped from the Central Park Zoo last year, appears in several objects in the current show).

As a result, Petit h brings together and emphasizes, in ways both physically (the materials) and spiritually (the values), the heart and the essence of Hermès itself.

Band-aid stickers, shoelaces and charms, and animal-themed brushes imbue even the smallest items with a touch of fun and whimsy.

Desk accessories reimagined by Petit h are magically less mundane.

Porcelain for tableware and leather for bags meet instead in a series of boxes commemorating owl Flaco’s 2023 escape from the Central Park Zoo.

Petit h will visit the Madison Avenue boutique for two weeks, from Friday, October 11, to Sunday, October 26. After that, it will return to its permanent home in the Paris Sevres boutique. For more, visit hermes.com and check out the Petit h creations you can purchase online.