Hermès revives Rome boutique with Petit h pop-up

Hermès has reopened its historic Via Condotti boutique in Rome as a pop-up store, hosting the Petit h collection. The original store, opened in 1994, closed on October 9, 2016, when the brand moved to a new headquarters at Via Bocca di Leone in Palazzo Caffarelli, redesigned by Parisian architecture firm RDAI. The new pop-up, spanning 120 square meters, was reinvented by Caruso-Torricella Architetti with white walls and floors, black graphic grids, and pastel linear abstractions. Petit h, led by artistic director Pascale Mussard, a sixth-generation Hermès descendant, is a permanent laboratory where designers and artisans create objects from production scraps—fabric remnants, leather offcuts, spare parts, porcelain, buckles, belts, and accessory fragments—recombined into bags, jewelry, stools, tables, lamps, vases, and furnishings. Highlights include pendants inspired by Italian pop icons (Colosseum, espresso cup, gelato cone, Vespa), giraffe- and dromedary-shaped hangers, deer, speedboat, and vintage car sculptures from leather scraps, ceramic pendants from chipped plates, and a giant domino set in calfskin and crocodile. Customers can also commission custom creations by selecting leftover materials. After Rome, the collection will travel to Seoul from November 22 to December 17, 2017. Petit h is permanently displayed at the Hermès boutique at 17 Rue de Sèvres in Paris and through rotating exhibitions worldwide.