HERMÈS AT MILAN INTERNATIONAL FURNITURE SHOW: 12-17 APRIL 2011
The Milan furniture show, ‘Salone Internazionale del Mobile‘ celebrates its 50th year, starting tomorrow 12th April 2011. The slogan for the show is ’50 years young’, a play on words which is made to represent the youthful and lively spirit of the event. This year, Hermès will be unveiling a new collection of contemporary furniture in its première exhibition at the Furniture Show in a space specially created for the brand by the renowned Japanese and French architects Shigeru Ban and Jean de Gastines at La Pelota on Via Palermo, Milan. The brand will present a comprehensive range of designs for the home including a variety of furnishing fabrics, wallpaper and carpets alongside its first line of contemporary furniture.
“This collection represents an opportunity for a new expression of Hermès’ values in the field of furniture, faithful to its artisan spirit and imbued with the values of functionality and comfort” Pierre-Alexis Dumas, Artistic Director at Hermès
The French design house is well renowned for its luxury table services and textile collections but Hermès has recently gone back to its furnishing roots reissuing pieces by the French interior designer Jean-Michel Frank at its new Parisian store (Rue de Sèvres) back in November 2010.
The new furniture line for 2011 is produced in collaboration with a cast of eminent contemporary designers. Enzo Mari, one of the most influential figures in Italian design, conceived a set of furniture for the office and dining room. Antonio Citterio, another eminent and distinctive figure, has designed a line of furniture for the living room. Denis Montel, artistic director of Parisian interior architecture agency, RDAI, who has been working with Hermès since 1978, has co-deisgned a “signature” chair for Hermès with Eric Benqué. Hermès has also partnered with the Italian fabric house Dedar to create the new line Faubourg Italy which combines the savoir-faire of both design houses for publishing and distribution of furniture fabrics and wallpaper. These collections created under the direction of the Hermès brand will go on sale from May 2011 and will aslo be presented at this years Milan Furniture Show.
The entire Hermès collection will be available from September 2011 in selected Hermès stores around the world.
The Salone Internazionale del Mobile trade fair is running 12-17 April 2011, 9.30am – 6.30pm in Rho Fairgrounds, Milan and is open to the general public on Sunday 17th April.
By Lucy Mclean
