Lanternes, Ballons et Cocardes

Katie Scott’s Lanternes, Ballons et Cocardes turns an animal gathering into a festival of light. Her agency, Big Active, describes the commission for Hermès through Noah’s Ark, with animal silhouettes transformed into colored geometric lanterns. It documents silk twill scarves with hand-rolled edges, without supplying an issue year or a commercial size.^[1]

The useful question is not simply which animals appear, but how recognition survives a change of form. A silhouette can remain legible even as it becomes an imagined lantern. Seen this way, the design asks the eye to move between creature and object, taking pleasure in the moment when both readings seem possible.

Hermès offers another description in its announcement of the renovated Taichung store, dated 31 March 2025. The carré appears in the discussion of the store’s art selection, where the house connects Scott’s lanterns with tropical animal and plant life. This gives the design a documented display context in Taiwan, not a date of creation.^[3]

A separate house product page confirms a smaller realization: scarf 45, reference H893918S 02. It specifies silk twill, hand-rolled edges and the color combination Jaune Soufre / Vert / Fuchsia. Its stated dimensions are 42 × 43 cm, subject to variation from hand rolling. The commercial label and the measurements therefore belong together, but should not be treated as the same thing.^[2]

These records let us enjoy the drawing without pretending its whole history is settled. The luminous menagerie has an artist, a documented interpretation and identifiable physical expressions. Its first edition remains unknown here; the scarf 45 does not establish the size or construction of every version bearing the title.^[1][2]