Hermes SIHH 2019 – Earth
Client
Tangent
Asylum Supervisor
Mark Ward
Asylum was commissioned by Tangent to create the centrepiece installation and window displays for Hermes’ watch collection, showcased in the world’s most prestigious watch fair, SIHH 2019 in Geneva.
Inspired by the planet Earth, the installation was a geodesic globe which slowly rotates. Measuring 3.5 metres in diameter, the globe was covered by over 20 thousand triangular tiles, recycled from photovoltaic cells. Asylum was tasked to manufacture the globe, including the design of the internal structure as well as the means of transportation and assembly on location.
Our engineers designed an internal framework of aluminium box metal, with latches for easy construction. It disassembled into quarter hemispheres which fitted onto an articulated lorry for transportation. The structure was connected to a steel box mount which also contained the rotational motor. We had the outer shell cast in fibreglass, which was then spray painted black, ready for the solar panel cladding. Finally pulley systems were used to lift the sphere shells into place.
We accompanied the globe to Geneva in order to oversee the installation, along with a number of display windows we were involved in manufacturing.