In a workshop in Tequisquiapan, artisans are bending strips of wicker into the shape of a crab's claw. It will end up clutching a Hermes handbag in a shop window thousands of miles from where it was woven, but right now it is just cane and hands and the kind of technique passed down rather than taught in a classroom. This is where the Hermès Mexico window displays actually begin, long before anyone in Mexico City, Cancún, Monterrey or Guadalajara sees the finished scene through the glass.
Mestiz's handwoven pieces, in progress for the Hermès display cases. Credits: Mestiz /@mestizmx
The studio behind this menagerie is Mestiz, founded in San Miguel de Allende by architect Daniel Valero. For the third year running, Hermès has commissioned Mestiz to reimagine its window displays, and the results push wicker into territory it rarely occupies: storytelling. A violet elephant stands beside a woven butterfly. Fish swim through fields of tulips that were never planted in soil. Birds perch beside bags. The forms borrow from folklore and childhood imagination, giving each display the logic of a fable rather than a retail moment.
Handwoven wicker fish, ready to swim through the Hermès installation. Credits: Mestiz /@mestizmx
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Image Credits:
Lead: Handwoven wicker flower and trunk, part of the pieces Mestiz created for Hermès. Credits: Mestiz /@mestizmx.
All further images as credited in captions.