OPENING CEREMONY LIGHTING EVENT FOR HERMES SHANGHAI

I was contacted by Hermès with the message: “We are planning to hold a ceremony to commemorate the opening of Hermès Maison, a mega boutique on a downtown shopping street in Shanghai. We want you to stage the lighting.” It arrived five months before the scheduled date. The location is a red-brick building ornamented by white balconies that was constructed by the French at the beginning of the 20th century and which now owes its revival to a French brand.

The concept for the event was spun from this place of history, which reminded me of the picture book “The Little House.” The surroundings consist of lines of buildings occupied by brand shops illuminating loud-colored lights and covered in media facade. Therefore, considering there was no chance of standing out by going bright, I proposed the reverse approach of adopting shadow-play images. The patterns projected were created by arranging motifs of traditional Chinese shadow-play images and black-and-white sumie style images of sycamore trees, which are actually growing on the street in front of the property. Then, in fitting with the grandest event of 2014 for this brand that loves fairy tales and playful mischievousness, a poesy of colorful lights added flowers to the scene.