Stamped walls

Art installation for the exhibition "White Canvas" for Hermès
Maison Hermès
New-York, Madison flagship
2017
350m²
Pictures courtesy Hagop Kalaidjian / BFA

The concept of the show is to present the Univers Maison collection in an interactive and playful way. The idea is to put a new twist on the wallpaper designs to bring them to life and free them from their frame. The arrangement consists of a wall filled with 3D windows and doors in shapes and patterns derived from the wallpaper. This “box” is left white with a partial covering of wallpaper; wooden rods on a base will be spread out on the blank walls.

These wooden blocks are actually giant stamps which visitors are encouraged to use to print their own creations on to the walls. Different graphic designs and colours derived from Hermès patterns enliven the installation and create a new experience in constant flux. These patterns on the walls mix with the wallpaper patterns and spread themselves over the bare walls.

The site metamorphoses through the patterns and colours which overrun the space to create a singular and ephemeral design scheme.

« The result is something that challenges our expectations of what makes for a neat, and attrayant, tessellated design. It’s also a project that seems to cheekily hint at the art world’s ubiquitous white cube exhibition design style. But in this case, those collaborating, using color and throwing expectations to the wind, have clearly had more fun. » Madeleine Luckel,Vogue.