Photo Courtesy of Hermès
Applauding its annual theme Metamorphoses of Objects in 2014, the luxury French Maison Hermès paid tribute to the beauty of nature and its transformation. The carré Au Coeur de la Vie which was designed by the artist Aline Honoré and first issued in the Spring/Summer seasons of 2007, was reissued in 2014.
The Hermès 2014 catalogue provides the following detailed information about the carré: “Life is an extraordinary series of metamorphoses. Like an allegory of life itself, this scarf takes us on an incredible journey, beginning at the heart of a single living cell, and ending among the branches at the tops of the very tallest trees in the equatorial rain forest. From the infinitely tiny to the infinitely great… The forest canopy is an expanse of greenery reaching into the empty sky – all that lies between it and the sun. Remote and inaccessible, it is beyond the reach of man: this is the realm of the imagination of Nature herself. The incredible, rich tapestry of fauna and flora is protected by its great height. The fabulous, living treasure house holds innumerable undiscovered secrets. The heaving swell of dense, luxuriant vegetation is the setting for innumerable encounters and adventures. Chameleons, monkeys, parrots, hummingbirds and tiny lemurs busy themselves amid orchid flowers and flesh-eating plants, leaping or flying from vine to vine. Energy is the heart of life.”
Rainforests flourished millions of years ago. It is one of the Earth’s oldest living ecosystems. Bringing together heavy rainfall and sunlight with its dense canopy and abundant species of plants, animals and insects make it rich in biodiversity. It is a significant natural habitat and home to over 30 million species of living organisms. It is a great place to admire nature and marvel at life.
The living ecosystem helps stabilise the earth’s climate, maintains its water cycle system, protects the soil against erosion and produces food and medicine for tribal people. The rainforest also absorbs and filters excess carbon and other pollutants from the atmosphere. It releases oxygen and provides food to sustain the lives of humans and animals. The cells in our body transform food into energy. Energy is the heart of life.
All the plants, animals and insects on the planet are made of building blocks that we call cells. In the Hermès carré Au Coeur de la Vie, the artist depicts the rainforest in a quincunx arrangement with a huge single living cell at the centre of the square and four trees consisting of lemurs and monkeys at the corners. The emergent, canopy, understory and undergrowth layers of rainforest were illustrated in overlapping layers of vegetation from far to near, gradually forming a wilderness surrounding the cell and spanning to all sides. The thriving plants, leaping animals, singing birds, and chirping insects are blending into the opaque rainforest within the carré.
Plants produce their food with the help of sunlight, carbon and water in a process called photosynthesis. With treetops rising above everything else, the emergent layer gets most of the sunlight, carbon and rain. The residents of the emergent layer are the swift parrots, intelligent macaws and delicate butterflies. The parrots are soaring and circling freely above the treetops. Plants burst to bloom, and the butterflies carry the pollen from blossom to blossom to pollinate flowers so that fruits can grow, seeds can form and plants can reproduce. Like the butterfly, the hummingbird hovers over flowers and enjoys the nectar of tubular-shaped flowers.
The luxuriant canopy layer is just beneath the emergent layer. Sometimes called the roof of the rainforest, it offers the greatest repository of biodiversity to support animal and plant life. The combination of foliage, healthy branches, twigs, and epiphytes form a deep layer of vegetation network to protect the flora and fauna that live in the two remaining layers below.
The creepers, vines and lianas wrapping around the tree trunk and branches, ascend to the canopy level to gain more sunlight. Meanwhile, they act as support so that animals can climb up to higher positions. The carré title Au Coeur de la Vie was written in vine script font and decorated with dangling flowers.
At one corner of the carré, a monkey is climbing towards the tip of a branch. Not far from it are the mother and baby red-fronted brown lemurs. Next to them are the dancing sifaka lemurs with heart-shaped mark faces. The lemurs are from Madagascar, an island country in the Indian Ocean lying off the southeastern coast of Africa. At the bottom right corner, a ring-tailed lemur is hugging a tree, its signature tail just hanging above the Lady’s Slipper and Miltonia Clowesii orchids. The various orchids can be easily found along the four sides including the Oncidium Sharry Baby, Vanilla Pilifera, Angraecum large star shape orchids, Platanthera Praeclara and Spotted orchids etc.
Only 5 per cent of sunlight can pierce the canopy and reach the understory layers. The plants growing there usually have large size leaves such as ferns, Philodendron Xanaduo and Monstera Deliciosa; their expanded leaf surfaces help plants to capture light and water, they also provide food and shelter for the animals and insects. The chameleon is hiding under a leaf and unleashing its natural camouflage ability to blend into shady surroundings. In contrast to the shy chameleon, the Victoria crowned pigeon is proudly spanning its elegant blue lace-like crest to the world in a prominent location.
The dark and humid undergrowth layer is the favourite place for the poison dart frog. The frogs are insectivores and prefer to eat most kinds of small insects such as beetles, termites and ants etc. Within the rainforest floor and especially under dead trees, ants and other insects act as decomposers by feeding on organic waste, dead insects and animals. Not only are insects the favourite food to the poison dart frogs, but they are also the nutrients for the pitcher plant. The unusual plant entices the insects to its cavity trap with secret nectar.
Although the carré Au Coeur de la Vie was inspired by the equatorial rainforest, Hermès issued over ten different colourways ranging from the refreshing spring green, vibrant tropical summer yellow, and glorious autumn fuchsia to enchanted winter livid colour palettes.
The livid colour palette transports us instantly to an enchanted winter wonderland forest. At dawn, the air is thin and crisp, filled with the hazy sunlight and fog. The dew is clean and the sky is bright, the frost comes at night and covers the leaves in ice-cube white, mixed with lime that is light. With the icy-tone winter colour scheme, the silver and grey bring neutrality and balance to the design. Along with the different types of pale, subdue livid colours, the mint, lime, fern and sea glass green colours aptly highlighted the exotic birds, butterflies and flowers.
The artist Aline Honoré depicts the metamorphosis of living objects from an infinitely tiny cell to an infinitely great ecosystem. The combination of Hermès’ unique colouring selection, outstanding printing techniques and superb craftsmanship flourish the masterpiece from an extraordinary rainforest design to dozens of miraculous wearable arts.
Photo courtesy of Hermes
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