Raul De Lara’s Hermès Windows Capture the Secret Lives of New York’s Homes

The most recent artist to configure the frequently memorable displays at Manhattan’s five story Hermès flagship is Raul De Lara, the Mexico-born, New York City-based sculptor best known for his beautifully worked and proportioned sculptures that borrow from the natural world as well as from home furnishings. His designs here look through a different sort of window into the the souls of the objects that make city dwellings homes.

With these windows, De Lara turned to what he considers to be “silent roommates,” or rather, the houseplants, furniture, and prized possessions that quietly fill a home. “They witness our daily lives, our victories, and our struggles,” he tells Galerie. “They are the companions we love for their usefulness, their beauty, and the quiet moments we share with them. Made from wood, leather, metal, and other humble materials, these objects are imbued with a spark of life and personality of their own. But what does it look like when these objects come to life? How do they interact with each other when we aren’t looking?”

Nature and De Lara’s experiences with it also play a central role in his messaging. When De Lara strolls through Central Park, he has a favorite tree whose leaves are represented in the display, larger by over a degree of magnitude and carved in white oak. For these windows, the tree returned as a special source of inspiration. “My favorite tree is in Central Park, and every fall I go visit him for inspiration,” De Lara says. “It gives off the most beautiful leaves. For this project, I collected six of them and used their shape to create the large wooden leaves for this project.

The French heritage brand’s beloved accessories play well with the softly burnished woods. A large tan Bolide sits comfortably upon a four-legged wooden stool near the large wooden leaves that quietly welcome autumn, and one of the prized silk scarves is tied around a giant leaf in the same window.

“Humor and uncanniness have always been a part of my work,” he says, later adding that his upbringing in a family of casino decorators, interior designers, architects, and engineers enabled him to think of interior spaces as a way to tell stories. “As a sculptor, I strive to imbue my materials with a spark of life. My work generally has some type of anthropomorphic quality and is often inspired by domestic symbols, so making this window for Hermès felt like an extension of how I already think of my work existing in the world.”

This is not De Lara’s first collaboration with Hèrmes at all: he has been working with the label since 2023. For De Lara, the partnership is also an important extension of his personal ethos. “Collaborating with a company that doesn’t compromise on quality has been a gift,” he says. “I have spent most of my life developing my woodworking skills, and finding a partner who values that is a true blessing. Because of our mutual attraction to extreme craftsmanship and generational knowledge, I have been able to dream as big as possible and see my skills grow over the years working together.”