For Milan Design Week, Hermès took over La Pelota on Via Palermo, a former jai alai court, to show its 2026 Collections for the Home from 22 to 26 April. Artistic directors Charlotte Macaux Perelman and Alexis Fabry placed the new pieces among some thirty plaster and beechwood volumes arranged on a loose grid, so the room reads like a low city that visitors cross at their own pace.
The centre of the year is Palladion d'Hermès, a new family of objects in hand-hammered metal with a palladium finish, combined with leather, horsehair or wood. The name refers to Pallas Athena, the Greek goddess of protection, and the house presents the pieces as contemporary talismans.
Alongside it sits the Stadium d'Hermès table by the British duo Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby, a marble marquetry piece placed at the centre of the installation. A series of textiles completes the collection, working through weaving, dyeing, embroidery and construction.
For anyone who thinks in light, the hammered surfaces are the story. Each facet catches a different angle, so the vessels change as you walk past them. Brass and hand-finished metal work the same way in lighting: a surface that moves with the light gives a room depth without adding a single lamp.