This autumn in London, the Hermès Maison window at 166 New Bond Street unveils a spectacular new display dreamt up by architects Space Popular. Scenes across its six arched windows sweep passersby up into a cosy and surreal drawing room built of cotton-and-silk-blend quilts in warm and toasty colours, inspired by the Georgian history of the Maison’s architecture.
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Titled ‘Ciel de Lit’, the storybook tableaux are wrapped in quilted sash windows ready to lift off into quilted clouds, a roaring fireplace, and a door that opens just ajar, hinting at imaginary worlds beyond. There’s humour in the details – floating Hermès gloves draw open the curtains, a silk scarf adorns an easel and a leather belt plugs into a stitched socket – sparking contrasts between the softness of the fabric-world and the exquisite reality of fine craft.
'We like to create things that make you look twice, widen your mind and spark curiosity,' says architect Fredrik Hellberg, one half of the Space Popular duo with architect Lara Lesmes.
Interested in virtual worlds, surrealism and trompe l’oeil, they were inspired by the strange magic of ‘moments between sleeping and waking’. The duo also looked to Hermès’ 2026 guiding creative theme of the year, ‘Venture Beyond’, and the whimsy of the London Maison itself, a magical village of six buildings and 55 uniquely designed rooms that unfolds beyond the windows.
After working together for many years, Space Popular has, over the past decade, turned increasingly to textiles, resonating with how the medium resonates deeply with the body, humanises architecture and tells stories over millennia. This first foray into quilting evolved in collaboration with a group of artisans and London-based crafts specialist Andy Knight, who joined nearly 500 pieces of quilted textiles together to create the vast installation, their largest endeavour to date.
'It’s incomprehensible how many hundreds of miles of stitching there is, yet how slow and precise it is too, because of all of the ornaments and details. You'll see that the stitching doesn't miss a millimetre,' says Hellberg, reflecting on the awe of the craft.
Space Popular worked closely with the Hermès team to curate the house’s objects within the display, many of which were drawn from the Home collection. There’s the Pippa stool, originally designed in 1983 by architects Peter Coles and Rena Dumas (1937-2009), the latter whose studio, Rena Dumas Architecture Intérieure (RDAI), now under the artistic direction of Denis Montel, is behind the design of the London Maison and establishing the interior vision of Hermès stores worldwide. As well as a luxurious sofa re-edition by Jean-Michel Frank; the Les Trotteuses d’Hermès occasional table; and Pantographe arc floor lamp.
When viewed in-person, one absorbs the architectural reflections, shifting light, the shiny speed of black cabs, and the elegant bustle of New Bond Street as another illusion, softly mirrored into the scene.
This history of Hermès’ windows is a tradition and art form in its own right, which was overseen for many years, between 1978 and 2013, by Tunisian designer-decorator Leïla Menchari (1927-2020), then in charge of the Hermès windows at Faubourg Saint-Honoré. Her work is celebrated in the book ‘Leïla Menchari, the Queen of Enchantment,' published by Hermès.
'This is the kind of legacy that you’re stepping into,' says Hellberg on Space Popular’s participation in this window display, recognising in admiration previous artistic collaborators of their generation such as Wang & Söderström. For Space Popular, part of the beauty of this installation is in reaching the broad public audience of the street with its wonder: 'We are called Space Popular for a reason,' he says, 'At our core we are really interested in what people like and what people enjoy.'
'Ciel de Lit by Space Popular' is on display at Maison Hermès at 166 New Bond St, London, W1S 4RB until 30 October 2026