Apple x Hermès

A love story that started here

Left, the dense forest of Yakushima. Right, the Apple Watch Hermès Series 4. Photographs: Yoshihiko Ueda

On a remote island in Japan’s Kagoshima Prefecture, Hermès artistic director Pierre-Alexis Dumas credited Tony Chambers as the person who first introduced Hermès to Apple. It is a relationship that continues to flourish.

Yakushima, Japan. November 2018.

‘I’m here by choice, not by obligation’ Jony Ive tells me as we trek through the dense, mysterious forests of Yakushima. 

Me too! My 12,000 miles round-trip from London to this remote island in the Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan was arduous but worth it. It’s not often you get to spend time in such a magical environment in the company of Apple’s chief design officer and Hermès’ artistic director, Pierre-Alexis Dumas. 

Extraordinary products created by extraordinary partnerships should lead to extraordinary experiences, and the purpose of this two-day sojourn was to better understand some qualities of the Apple Hermès Watch series 4. It may seem odd that a company renowned for accelerating digital connectivity would take you to an area that is almost totally off-grid, but finding time to unplug and connect in a different way – with yourself and with nature is a key component of their new product. ‘We must strive to preserve a connection with nature and a reconnection with our senses’ Says Dumas, ‘and Yakushima, with its thousand-year-old trees, its incredibly diverse flora and fauna, including 1,900 species of plant, 150 species of bird and around 20 different species of mammal is a marvellous example of this’. The fitness, health and breathing apps are now paramount: ‘We have included additional features and enhancements to help us to live an overall healthier, more active, more balanced life’ adds Ive.

Jony Ive, Marc Newson and Pierre-Alexis Dumas start their journey. Photograph: Tony Chambers

Balance is also key to the overall Apple Hermès working relationship – the balance of technology and craftsmanship. It is something Dumas is passionate about (he refers to it as ‘technocraft’) and is convinced it is the holy grail of modern design, manufacturing and making. ‘We are a manufacturing species, we make tools and we make tools to make objects. It is part of our culture and it is part of what makes us human’ he says. ‘We are both so interested in the process of making’ says Ive. ‘After I met Pierre-Alexis some years ago, the idea of working with Hermès struck me as entirely natural and logical – almost inevitable’.

By spending time with Ive and Pierre-Alexis Dumas (I’m tempted to refer to them collectively as IPAD) you sense a total meeting of minds. There’s a shared admiration of materials and craftsmanship and an uncompromising pursuit of excellence. The obsessive refinement in series 4 is where the magic happens – such as the significant increase in the display size, by blending it with the curves of the watch. But the new Hermès user interface is the most elegant and succinct representation of their collaboration. As the minute hand sweeps forward, the screen shifts from one block colour to the next, matching the colours of the two-tone leather straps and creating a kind of digital sundial.

Wallpaper* August 2010 issue, where the Apple Hermès relationship started

Over dinner on the last evening, Pierre-Alexis reminds me that the Hermès Apple relationship first blossomed thanks to some Tony Chambers matchmaking back in January 2010. As editor-in-chief of Wallpaper* magazine at the time, I was preparing the inaugural Wallpaper* Handmade project and the Apple iPad had just been announced at one of Steve Jobs’ legendary presentations. Who better, I thought, to design the perfect protective case for this yet-to-be-released technological game-changer than Hermès? It would be a perfect marriage of craft and technology for our Milan exhibition that coming April. Technocraft no less!

Their relationship clearly flourished, as some five years later the Apple Hermès watch was born and it was fitting – by choice, not by obligation, to be present at this most extraordinary presentation of their latest collaboration.

Apple Watch Hermès Series 11, the relationship continues to flourish