Tanishaa Cunha (left) and Aashika
| Photograph Credit score: Six Methods to Sunday
As luxurious homes recognise the worth of pondering glocal for a market like India, collaborations with homegrown names have solely been on the rise in latest instances. For French luxurious home Hermès — that has frequently championed the intersection of style, craft and tradition — this has at all times been a no brainer. The model’s codes could also be steeped in equestrian heritage however a gentle patronage of artwork is simply as integral to it. Working example: its particular window shows, the place the model commissions choose artists to show its storefront right into a whimsical canvas, designed to make one cease and stare.
The art work takes cues from the structure of the model’s iconic retailer
| Photograph Credit score:
Joshua Navalkar
And if you’re due for a go to to Hermès’ new retailer in Mumbai’s Jio World Plaza luxurious mall, you possibly can witness the newest one for your self. This one has been dreamed up by sisters and mosaic artist duo Aashika and Tanishaa Cunha, who’ve additionally created murals and collectible figurines for Ala Moana Centre in Honolulu, Hawaii, and Elephant Parade up to now. As Hermès celebrates Faubourg at its historic handle on 24 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré in Paris all by the yr, the sisters have used the traditional craft of hand-cut glass mosaic to create their very personal fairground of pleasure behind the shop home windows.
Over 1,200 hours and 36,000 tiles (a mixture of Indian and Italian) throughout two home windows later, the result’s an immersive window set up that allows you to step right into a fantastical realm, all taking its cues from the structure of the model’s iconic retailer. A ferris wheel connected to a stairway alongside a gilded ironwork elevator adorns one window. The steel work extends to the subsequent window by connecting stairways and archways. A brightly lit carousel with horseshoe-inspired seats is a nostalgic nod to the quintessential fairground, however tailored utilizing Hermès objects. “We reworked the gilded ironwork elevator and different steel work into whimsical rides with a purpose to seize the magical power of a fairground in addition to the Faubourg,” says Tanishaa.
A ferris wheel connected to a stairway alongside a gilded ironwork elevator adorns one window
| Photograph Credit score:
Joshua Navalkar
This isn’t the model’s first artist collaboration in India, it has additionally labored with the likes of Sumakshi Singh and Rooshad Shroff up to now. In April this yr, Hermes additionally had designer and filmmaker Aradhana Seth create the ‘Faubourg in an Enchanted Forest’ window set up impressed by Gond artwork for the launch of the JWP retailer.
This newest collaboration with the Cunha sisters was notably related due to the dominant presence of mosaic in Hermes shops all over the world. “After a number of immersive conversations about tales of the home and the theme of the yr, we wished to create a joyful setting by a well-balanced geometric play of strains and patterns,” explains Aashika, who additionally works on the Jehangir Nicholson Artwork Basis on the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya Museum in Mumbai. “The thought was to depict imaginary ranges mixed with connecting pathways product of stairs and archways, impressed by the labyrinth-like construction of the Faubourg retailer,” provides Tanishaa.
The undertaking took over 1,200 hours and used 36,000 tiles
| Photograph Credit score:
Joshua Navalkar
The meticulous course of began with digital explorations and drawings and patterns, adopted by honing in on the colors of the vitreous glass tiles earlier than they could possibly be washed and hand lower. “We each imagine that magnificence is within the curves, so the glass tiles had been lower manually, and this course of may be very intricate,” admits Aashika. The design was then sketched out on a cement sheet for the tiles to be glued on to. “We used the home’s emblematic codes just like the Artwork Deco-inspired ‘H deco’ sample and the ‘chaine d’ancre’ motif (typically used of their jewelry), and recreated it with mosaic tiles,” Tanishaa carries on. “We’re at all times in quest of moments and alternatives that encourage us to additional our ardour, so it’s been thrilling to collaborate with a model that has craftsmanship and creativity on the core of its DNA,” they log off.
The home windows designed by Aashika and Tanishaa Cunha can be on show on the Hermès in Jio World Plaza, Mumbai, till October 15.
