fIRST LooK
S
tarting with the exterior façade,
he pointed out the glossy green
ceramic tiles in multiple shades
framing the display windows
and entry that play to Florida’s famously
bright and natural hues. “It’s the only
design of its kind in the world. All of our
stores are different. We don’t have any
kind of cookie-cutter style. It’s all unique
to each location,” he explains.WE WERE ABLE TO TAKE A TOUR
WITH HERMÈS OF PARIS
PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE
OFFICER ROBERT CHAVEZ AN
HOUR BEFORE THE PRIVATE
PRE-OPENING EVENT TO DISCUSS
THE DESIGN AND LAYOUT OF THE
NEW HERMÈS BOUTIQUE AT THE
MALL AT MILLENIA.luxe legacy
by Christi Ashby
For the design of the store, the team
definitely kept in mind Orlando’s resident
and visitor populations. “We know there
are more than 60 million visitors to Orlan-
do each year. You will see different catego-
ries designed for first-time purchasers —
especially in the front,” he adds.
Just inside the front doors are the silk
and fragrance departments. Above the
merchandise displays, digital “scarves”provide changing pieces of artwork.
“There are about eight to 10 new scarf
designs per season — 18 to 20 a year. If you
go back to 1837 that means there are liter-
ally thousands,” he says of the iconic
product.
Sometimes a previous design will be
reintroduced in an updated mode — such
as colors. Known for their brilliant and
intricate patterns, Robert says, “There is a
color kitchen and 75,000 different colors
in the recipe book. Artisans are constantly
joining us.”
“The thing I love about Hermès and
particularly for this market is the color.
We have a lot of icons in our repertoire
and I like to say color is an icon in and of
itself. It’s really very special. And when
you come to a market like Orlando you
can see the difference. Every manager
buys for their own store. We don’t buy and
then distribute by a computer sheet using
percentages,” he adds.
As we made our way through each care-
fully curated area, Robert noted interesting
items such as a hand-embellished scarf
and enameled bracelets. We continued10 INTERIOR APPEAL | ORANGEAPPEAL.COM