BRUSSELS.
Daily Rituals is a set of six window displays for Hermès that honour the still life. At the heart of the project is a concept that revolves around a celebration of everyday things that surround us, that facilitate and shape our lives. By wrapping a series of products with tape, the designers have captured concrete memories into abstract forms, enabling the viewer to more deeply appreciate each object while, in turn, equalising their value.
Each scene in the window displays weaves a story of everyday moments and those who experience them. For example, in the store in Brussels, a double-window setting invites passer-by to imagine a devoted admirer writing letters for his muse, and then see the recipient excitedly open her adoration-filled missives. In the window of the P.C. Hooftstraat store in Amsterdam, one can envision a hastily performed morning routine, later followed by a peaceful evening ritual in the bath at the Bijenkorf store. This play with anonymity and elevation challenges and inspires the viewer’s perspective of her own daily reality. The results are showcased in window displays that can be viewed in six Hermès shops in the Benelux-region over a period of three months.
Daily Rituals is a project designed by Studio Wieki Somers. Since 2003 the studio has earned an international reputation for the way its work introduces extraordinary fantasy in the most common things. Developing a deep sensitivity for materials, technological detailing and a highly demanding finish, it aims to provide an enlightened reading of our everyday environment. Through this restless experimentation with useful objects – their shapes, material and meanings, the way they are made and the way they are used – the studio’s work questions our aesthetic impulse in a subtle and often contradictory manner.
Photography. Brussels / Fabien de Cugnac.
