[Title] AUTOBAHN
[Artist] Konstantin Grcic
[Date] January 22 – March 17, 2009
The window fantasy celebrating the first few months of 2009 portrays the “Autobahn” – the streamlined German express highway famed for its freedom from any and all official speed limits. Zeroing in on the Maison Hermès 2009 annual theme of “The Beautiful Getaway,” the window depicts drivers, liberated from all constraints, making their getaway down this storied motorway.
With the glowing red hues of dawn at their backs, the drivers cruise leisurely along a coastal route in brilliantly polished cars. Gazing up at the changing skies overhead, already expanding in the mind’s eye is the special world promising to emerge further down the highway. They are savoring a genuinely delightful jaunt, with their original destination sure to change on a whim as the journey continues. In the small windows, meanwhile, rich arrays of fascinating objects are reflected in the side mirrors, conjuring up images of diversified vistas of escape.
Drivers with distinctively different driving patterns can be found on the Autobahn. Some tool along at a leisurely pace, while others push their machines to the very limits of speed and performance. Gripping the wheel, however, each driver settles down into his or her own special world as the landscapes flow by. The Autobahn is also a dimension of transition from the everyday to the out of the ordinary. Loading their travel bags into the cars, the drivers envision the myriad scenery and experiences up head. Casting a glance to the ocean waters the road, this marks departure on what promises to be an exhilaratingly “Beautiful Getaway.”
Konstantin Grcic
An industrial designer born in Munich, Germany in 1965, who studied design at the Royal College of Art in England. Upon graduation, he joined the Jasper Morrison design office. Grcic returned to Munich in 1991 to found Konstantin Grcic Industrial Design. His designs have graced the products of an impressive number of internationally renowned companies. Mayday, a Grcic creation unveiled by lighting appliance producer FLOS in 1998, is now part of the permanent collection at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York.