People@Patrick Thomas, Hermès CEO, and Rena Dumas

Patrick Thomas, Hermès CEO, and Rena Dumas

Wallpaper*: How do you value the relationship between fashion and architecture and do you think architecture can reflect or inspire fashion?
Patrick Thomas: Fashion is the cloth of the body. Architecture is the cloth of the spirit, of the soul. Both express a person’s personality, body or soul. A person’s spirit, or attitude, is reflected in their home’s architecture. A company’s spirit is reflected in the architecture of its offices, stores, factories. In a way, a piece of fashion is an architectural creation. Doesn’t one speak of the ‘architecture’ of a cloth?

W*: What sort of architecture do you think reflects the Hermès aesthetic?
PT: Very diverse architecture that is respectful of the site, discreetly elegant, highly qualitative in materials, in constant evolution and full of sensuality.

W*: How can architecture help sell fashion?
PT: Successful architecture enhances fashion and gives it life.

W*: What is it about Rena Dumas’ work that appeals to you?
PT: Rena Dumas has gradually developed the Hermès architectural style jointly with Hermès. Once she has understood the brief, she delivers it in total harmony with her customers. She has an extraordinary sense of what Hermès wants to do to put its objects on stage.

W*: Which projects have you worked on together and do you intend to do more?
PT: We’ve worked together on our Hermès workshops in Pantin (suburb of Paris), on a massive extension project that is underway in Pantin and on a very daring Hermès House in Dosan Park in Seoul.

W*: Do you have a favourite building and why?
PT: The House of Lords in London, because its harmony is so great and the proportions so well balanced that it looks like a cottage.

W*: What is your favorite city and why?
PT: The Italian cities – they mix so well with the nature surrounding them. When you visit Florence or Tuscany, you hardly know if you are in a city or in its surroundings. My favourite cities are those that are discreetly integrated in the nature surrounding them.

W*: Which location or city do you think could most do with a makeover?
PT: Lake of Annecy, because the nature is so beautiful and the architecture almost destroys it.

W*: How difficult is it to combine your vision with that of someone else whose vision may be equally strong? Rena Dumas: I appreciate having a client with a strong vision. The rest is a matter of equal respect and complicity.

W*: How does an architect begin to turn the task of shopping into a memorable event?
RD: At Hermès there is a real preoccupation with innovation, which for RDAI means leaning upon the roots of tradition, to constantly rebound to a modern vocabulary. Our architecture plays constantly with natural light and sculpts, as a staircase does, being sometimes rectilinear, or sometimes opening out into the space like a huge shell. Each store conveys the genuine atmosphere and timelessness of Hermès. The Hermès product, in its perfection, finds its place naturally enhanced in this architecture. However, the product is always the king of the festivity: the goal is that the act of selling, the act of exchange, becomes a festive moment and the realisation of a dream for the person who acquires the product.

W*: In your opinion, have many fashion 'innovators' helped advance public perception of architecture?
RD: We could say that, today, architecture ‘innovators’ help advance the perception of some fashion brands. In the more and more visible marriage of architecture and fashion, architecture is providing a strong support to the visual identity of these brands. In the case of Hermès, the architectural codes were rooted from the very beginning in the culture of the House and were founded in the first shop at 24 Faubourg Saint Honoré, Paris in 1925. Since that date, every Hermès shop is linked to that store by a golden thread. In a wider reflection on innovation in architecture, I believe that public perception of architecture is advanced by all quality architectural projects conceived by quality architects. But I believe strongly that we are entering into an era where architects and builders in general should reconsider what a privilege and responsibility towards the mankind it is to build on earth.

W*: What is your favourite city and why?
RD: Undoubtedly Paris! It is a personal choice since I was 14 years old. There is a wonderful balance and harmony between the built parts of the city and the spaces between them.

@Source:http://www.wallpaper.com/fashion/power-couples-day-9/1091