Hermès is preparing to launch the second batch of products objets and jouets made from the scraps and seconds of the Hermès workshops, the Petit h collection. [It's p'tee asch, so you don't embarrass yourself too badly when you call the New York store and try to reserve the $100,000 upcycled stuffed Birkin-skin Panda.]
The project is overseen by family member Pascale Mussard, who conceived it as a design lab and an extension of the resourceful experimentation of the firms' artisans, not [just] some hollow sustainability marketing stunt. And sure, why not.
I'd rather see those crocodile scraps turned into coffee cup holders or--hey-ho, a race car! With a scarf billowing behind it. So kids can play Isadora Duncan, I suppose? Yikes.
This crocodile-scale puzzle, on the other hand, is perfect for re-creating that one Curious George Swallows A Puzzle Piece book. Because think about it, this is not Melissa & Doug. A kid eats one of those eminently chokeable, uniquely-shaped pieces, Hermès is not going to be shipping you a replacement. So you'll be wanting the doctors to retrieve it.
I kid, I kid, because I love. Sure, they're ridiculously priced luxury goods being produced and sold in a time of global economic upheaval, but they're real, and made well, and made by a family which at least puts forward a decent argument for dynastic succession. Sure as hell beats Bernard Arnault.
But I also kid to hide the pain inside, the pain of missing out on the one Petit h product I actually wanted, but missed, this leather-wrapped swing, which made its brief appearance at the Paris flagship last winter.
Waste Not, Want It [nyt t mag via unconsumption]
slightly unnavigable official site for Petit h [lesailes.hermes.com]
