Hermès Brings The Petit Fun To Vancouver

It’s such a luxurious, revered, storied brand that it’s all too easy to think of Hermès as staid and serious. But the French fashion house has for decades been imbued with whimsy and fun, from its print designs to novelty bags like the Quelle Idole, aka the Kelly Doll. The epitome of this is Petit h, a métier (area of specialism) that’s been around since 2010—long before the word “upcycling” entered most of our vocabularies.

Petit h artists create collectible objects from the materials discarded by other Hermès métiers, including leather goods and equestrian, silk, ready-to-wear, jewellery, watches and more. The brief: “Nothing is lost, everything is transformed, and an object is created.” The vibe: Be playful, mischievous, ingenious and free.

See this for yourself at Hermès Vancouver where items like reusable leather “Band-Aids” (for adorning your bags, not your booboos), a porcelain and wooden bento box decorated with a hot dog, and a massive fabric bear are currently on display. Each item is handmade by the most skilled artisans of Hermès—Petit h Creative Director Godefroy de Virieu says everyone wants to work on this project because they’re able to exercise their creativity and problem-solving skills in unique ways. And while the objects are not one-offs, they’re produced in extremely limited runs, and uniquely beautiful because of things like the materials’ colour or textural variations.

You can see (and buy) the Petit h objects in the Vancouver store on Burrard Street until November 29 (though alas, someone has already purchased the bear). A selection will become available on the Canadian Hermes.com site starting on November 17. —Aileen Lalor