Gabriel Pazzini. Orion suitcase for Hermès, 2010there was a thing on the radio yesterday, in anticipation of today, about jokes and how there were only basically 7 jokes; someone else said there were only two. One kind of joke always deals with the gap between reality and aspiration, or concept and reality. Hilarious I guess, although in my experience I rarely find that gap funny until about 40 year later, if then.
I get various press releases about art and design from all sorts of odd places. One is Duende Studio in Paris who sent a new Hermès suitcase today. Well, not the suitcase unfortunately, just the pictures.
It states:
Orion suitcase in aluminium and natural cowhide by Hermès
. 'Created by Gabriele Pezzini, Hermès Design Director, this extremely ergonomic travelling companion has exceptional functional and aesthetic qualities. Its brushed anodised aluminium shell, the interior surface of which is reinforced with carbon and Kevlar, provide unparalleled resistance to wear and tear.
'The luggage is subtly highlighted with two natural cowhide handles - an unmistakable reference to the Hermès travel world. The bag's technical allure elegantly contrasts with the sensuality of its interior, cased entirely in leather. Its two handles allow for it to be carried horizontally or vertically, whilst its multidirectional wheels make for incredible ease of use.'
It is, no doubt, a beautiful thing. The leather on the outside is a bit odd: a sign that this is really a classy piece, in case anyone thought the suitcase was just full of camera equipment. The inside is constructed like several very old leather suitcases I have from the 1910s with horizontal dividers, envelopes and leather straps to keep everything in place. Not sure about the wheels, they look quite ordinary, but maybe this is the humorous bit, the gap between the concept in aluminum, kevlar and leather handles and the reality of four nasty little functional wheels on the bottom.
Gabriele Pezzini's website is a masterpiece of non-information. Perhaps this too is meant to be very funny. But according to my new tool of analysis about jokes I don't get it. The concept is very cool, the reality is very cool but actually quite boring. The gap isn't wide enough perhaps. Clearly I lack a sense of humour.