petit h

Last Friday I got to visit the petit h studio in Paris and the Hermes ateliers (yes, as in Hermes) thanks to my very good friend Mathieu Forestier from White Sky.
The most inspiring visit ever.

petit h is the "atelier de re-creation" (re-creation studio) of Hermes. The idea is that Hermes having probably the highest quality control in the world, there's a gold mine of rejected materials that are absolutely perfect around the one tiny fault that made it get out of line. Well, petit h gives these "rejected" or "left over" pieces another chance to get in the spotlight. They might not become the Birkin bag they always dreamed they would be, but they might become the ear of this giant bunny designed by Marjolijn Mandersloot for the year of the Rabbit (see last image), or part of another one of a kind poetic objects created in the studio with the savoir faire of the Hermes artisans.
The movie on the Hermes website and a few of the objects below, will explain it better than words...

Directing the magic are Pascale Mussard, from the Hermes family as the art director and Cyril Feb, managing director (with me and the rabbit above) that I had the privilege to meet - exquisite people for sure!!
There's no limits to what's possible, you should see the studio, the ultimate dream. Believe me, if I lived in Paris, I would have volunteered myself to make coffee, sharpen pencils or anything that would allow me to stand around and absorb...

pretty light bulb

Please meet the Plumen 001 designed by Hulger and Sam Wilkinson (UK) - discovered on ahalife where you can buy them for $30. Do I really need to say why I love them??
Some numbers: it uses 80% less energy than a regular bulb and lasts 8 times longer.


also see the dezeen article showing the bulb in glass vessels for DECODE, London.