Hermès Making Lab

Heureka! is an installation conceived by the French artist Jean Simon Roch, subtitled Hermès Making Lab: this piece of art was commissioned by the luxury brand in order to be displayed in its new Manhattan store. Inspired by the opening systems of Hermès bags, the installation is a complex mechanic structure made out of wood and composed of three aspects that correspond too three types of opening movements: rotation, bascule (tilting), and translation. Each of these are exemplified in abstract yet playful mechanisms.

For the graphic design of the installation, Jean Simon Roch collaborated with Alexis Jamet. The Paris-based designer and illustrator conceived a poster, a set of maps, illustrations and other technical drawings, that schematize either the object in itself, either its dynamics. The sheets of paper are presented on clipboards, sometimes with pencils, giving the impression that some experts are at work in this installation where movement is ultimately denied any functionality: the presence of experts then seems absurd. The illustrations are Risograph printed and give texture and materiality to the primary colors: it also suits the wooden environment. Usually, these mechanisms are made of steel: returning to wood gives them a crafted touch, something that is more likely handmade.

For the identity, Alexis Jamet used a standard sans that’s similar to Helvetica but has angled terminals. [Identified by Akira as ABC Monument Grotesk by Dinamo, see comments.] It’s neutral enough to be associated with manuals and to keep this pseudo-seriousness of an absurd system. For the poster, Alexis Jamet decided to use Media Sans from Production Type for the title of the installation, playing with the high x-height of the font: Media Sans Semi Condensed makes the words look like perfectly fitted elements of yet another mechanism. The whole operation of the installation crystallizes in the title.