Emotional Materiality

Hermès' creative director of home objects Joséphine Ciaudo talks about glass, tactility, and the quiet charisma of form By Asih Jenie

- Roberta Giovine

In the rarified world of Hermès, the category of home objects carries a quiet air of mystery. It excludes furniture, tableware, textiles, and even the children's collection—so what, exactly, qualifies as a “home object” in the Hermès universe? And what was it about this elusive category that warranted its own creative director?

Joséphine Ciaudo, who stepped into this role in 2018, frames it this way: “The Home Objects category includes everything that accompanies moments of daily life—objects that aren't necessarily defined by function, but rather by how they live with us.” These moments exclude mealtimes, which already have their own dedicated tableware universe.

A graduate of the École des arts appliqués Duperré in Paris with a background in textile, product, and graphic design, Ciaudo sees the category less as a checklist of typologies than as an ever-evolving terrain.