At the base of the Renzo Piano designed Maison Hermès in the heart of the Ginza district of Tokyo, botanist and cactus enthusiast Kohei Oda has developed a new landscape for the presentation of Hermès’ finery. The installation, “Journey,” which runs through September 26, features Oda’s unusual and astonishing plant life serving as an artful backdrop for pieces from the Hermès collection. The masterful arrangment offers a natural contrast and an unexpected air of relativity to the Hermès selections; in the larger displays, a multitude of textural cacti of varying height create an otherworldly scene, and in the smaller windows, dried plant forms interact and are entangled with the house’s accessories.
A favorite of The Aesthetic Post, Hiroshima-based Kohei Oda has revolutionized the “face” of cacti. From his world-renowned shop, Qusamura, to international installations, Oda’s work encourages us to reconsider plant life; by presenting cacti in unexpected ways, Oda surely engages the eye, but his horticultural experiments, including those with grafting (transplanting pieces of one plant to grow on another), move into the territory of sculpture and the extraordinary natural possibilities associated.
Maison Hermès is not only a shopping space, but a structure that houses workshops and offices, exhibition areas, and multimedia quarters, as well as a roof garden and a courtyard with direct access to the Tokyo subway. Its cladding, composed of more than 13,000 glass blocks, developed by acclaimed architect and engineer Renzo Piano, makes for a true architectural destination. The display windows at the base of Maison Hermès are the perfect stage for artists to reexamine “window dressing.”
More at: Maison Hermès, Qusamura
Photos: Hermès
