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Hermès moves into its new Roman home, in Palazzetto Arconati-Negroni-Caffarelli, built at the end of the 16th century.
The four story facade, last remodelled between 1870-1875 has a distinct Roman look with terracotta stuccoed walls, a centr al entrance portal framed with Piperino di Albana stone rough cut in the typical bugnato rustico style. Hermès, who first opened a store in the Italian capital in 1994, offers with this new store 630 square metres of retail space.
The store design was entrusted to RDAI, the Parisian architecture agency under the direction of Denis Montel. The original villa was built as series of interlinked rooms, which now facilitate specific spaces for Hermès métiers. You enter through one of two doors, either side of the arched portal, from the left into men’s silks, with a full spectrum of ties.
The men’s universe, to the right, offers ready-to-wear, belts, hats, bags and briefcases and an area dedicated to shoes. With furniture in stained Cherry wood and walls in dark-brown lacquered boiserie, men have their own salon, a homage to the Roman salotto, showcasing exclusive products such as leather footballs expressly made in the colours of the local teams Lazio and Roma.
To the left, below the vaulted ceilings, a characteristic of the ground floor, is the restored brick wall, hinting at the typical Roman style construction of the building. Floors are classic Hermès Faubourg pattern mosaic in raw Sienna and white, with cabochons in moulded glass and a “carpet” of gold veined white Calacatta marble finished with the familiar Hermès insignia “Ex Libris” in stainless steel.
Special finishes include walls hand worked in a mix of textile and mineral, achieved through layers of pigment which has been engraved, sanded and polished to achieve subtle but deep tones from raw Sienna to shades of red and bronze. Head through the portone to access the rest of the store’s ground floor, into the area dedicated to watches and jewellery, with a “carpet” in burnt orange and Hermès gold leather seating.
Feminine silk and perfumes share the space where you can find the second main entrance from Via Bocca di Leone. To the back of the store, an intimate room for bags has a sofa and coffee tables expressly designed by RDAI and benefits from a wide arched window treated in degrade sandblasted glass.
The room dedicated to fashion accessories, including small-leather-goods and bags as well as a full equestrian collection, features the staircase, which always takes centre stage in Hermès stores, here constructed entirely of large slabs of gold veined Calacatta marble, with a handrail in Hermès gold leather.
The stair, also framed by a restored brick wall, opens out onto a glazed canopy, its south-west aspect bathes the staircase in natural light, inviting customers upstairs.
On the first floor one discovers a series of interconnected rooms, finished here in mosaic and Doussié parquet. In two connecting spaces, with low armchairs from the new Shanghai line, specially designed for Hermès by RDAI, in gold leather and carpeted in burnt orange wool, is displayed women’s ready to-wear, fashion accessories such as gloves, hats and belts as well as shoes.
Two other communicating spaces dedicated to Hermès home collection, where a complete universe includes furniture and textiles, fabrics and wallpaper, porcelain and crystal from Arts de la Table as well as Art de Vivre accessories for sports and leisure. Also on this floor is a library, a space to rest and read, with carpet and comfortable low seating.
As the horse gallops at the heart of Hermès, dutch artist Noa Verhofstad has been invited to create a series of store windows for the opening, entitled The World of the Horse. This new Hermès store in Rome allows the house to fully express the rich diversity of Hermès métiers with an ambience as warm and welcoming as a home.
RDAI
Originally founded in 1972 the RDAI agency, directed today by Denis Montel, practices architecture, interior architecture and design. A sister agency RDAI-Architecture was established in 2007, expanding the horizons of French architecture. RDAI’s creativity, polyvalence and rigor have won the agency a worldwide reputation. The firm’s recent work demonstrates the dexterity that has enabled it to conceive a diverse range of projects, within a single sphere of ideas, including a residential tower in Taipei, the interiors of three apartment buildings in the United States and Brazil, a building in Miami and several stores across the globe for the Hermès group, a flagship store in Bangalore for the Indian jewellery company Ganjam, a prestige hotel in Qatar, and the Louvre Museum boutique. In France, RDAI architecture was awarded the 2014 “Equerre d’Argent” prize for the Hermès Cité des Métiers.
by AN shopfitting magazine no.136 ©
Photos courtesy Leo Torri
