Hermès

At Studio Astolfi, we were invited by Hermès to dream—boldly, playfully, and without limits. For the Summer 2019 windows, we imagined Dreamscapes, a journey through the subconscious inspired by the act of reading and the power of imagination. We transformed Hermès vitrines into chapters of a fantastical dream, each world born from the pages of forgotten books.

Our journey begins in a serene pink bedroom, where an open book lies beside a sleeping figure. From its pages, a small paper sheep comes to life and leaps out the window, crossing the threshold between waking life and the realm of dreams. We followed that sheep into a sky of floating paper clouds, where more sheep, each wearing a Hermès twilly, drift and play among miniature dream worlds.

From the clouds, we descend into a waterfall carved from layers of old books, with silk scarves cascading down its cliffs and butterflies—crafted from Hermès carré prints—emerging from its mist. Next, we wander through a magical forest where proportions twist and surprise: oversized flowers with noses sniff out Hermès perfumes, and ecstatic insects roam beneath surreal paper trees.

The dream then takes us underwater, where a forgotten book lies at the bottom of the sea, surrounded by sea creatures and shipwrecks from Jules Verne's imagination. Inside paper seashells, Hermès jewelry becomes treasure, glowing with mystery and wonder.

Our train of thought moves on to an ancient stone city, inspired by Petra, its architecture sculpted from books. A lone train travels across a paper bridge, its tracks made of Hermès belts, its steam a silk scarf, while small Hermès pieces inhabit niches like offerings to time.

We then drift into the stillness of the desert, where slow-moving snails, cacti made of text, and paper dunes set the stage for Hermès tableware to appear half-buried, as if uncovered by a sandstorm. A giant whale dives into a floor of letters, and above, a hot air balloon rises—with a porcelain tea cup for its basket.

The dream closes where it began—in the bedroom—now in miniature, with pink sheep tiptoeing back into the book from which they came. The story is ending, the book is closing, and we return gently to the real world.

In the smaller entrance vitrines, we celebrate the art of scale and detail with handcrafted paper sculptures in conversation with Hermès accessories. These scenes are quiet, whimsical moments—where storytelling, materiality, and imagination meet.

With Dreamscapes, we wanted to craft not just displays, but doorways—into dreams, into books, and into the world of Hermès.