Hermès Moves into Silicon Valley

As Hermès pushes its business further on line, it also has moved further into the tech world. Literally. Luxury retailer Hermès unveiled its newest US store in Palo Alto, a center of Silicon Valley. The store, which opened on May 18th, is the first new US store in seven years and designed by award-winning Parisian architecture agency RDAI. Hermès still operates its San Francisco boutique but opted for a second Bay-area location with a newer and larger 6,052-sq-ft premium store front in the Stanford Shopping Center.

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Each Hermès store is tailored to showcase the city’s vibe and this store took inspiration from its Northern California location and tech origins. It’s designed to look and feel like you’re walking into someone’s apartment, furnished with couches and sophisticated light fixtures as well as a an abstract audio-visual composition called Handmade created by multi-media artist Eric Vernhes. The grand opening party saw around 300 guests and featured cardboard tables, cardboard chairs and a cardboard fountain, all of which imitated a small French town vibe.

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@thedantaylor

The new location will also carry exclusive items including contemporary equestrian products.

@jblackerby + Frank Oudeman via @departuresmag/@hermes

Also seen was the new bag called the “Endless Road.” An Haut à Courroies in beautiful blues and greens, it is constructed from 42 pieces of hand-stitched leather depicting a California roadway in Pop art style (which seems to be part of the Hermès’ fall 2018 we wrote about earlier this year).