Departures Home, April 2020

A leathery green palm leaf here. A delicate pink orchid there. An unfurled fern mingling with a hibiscus somewhere in between. Placing the flora and fauna on each porcelain plate, teacup, and bowl for Hermès’s new Passifolia line was a bit like putting a puzzle together, says creative director of tableware Benoît-Pierre Emery. “Each piece must have its own identity, and be able to exist in isolation,” he says of the 30-piece collection. “And at the same time, it has to fit with the rest, and to fit with the rest it must play around with the white empty spaces so that they really go hand in hand.”