Watch the video
Drawing is the origin of imagination
What does drawing mean to a designer and illustrator like Daiske Nomura? We spoke with him at length at Ginza Maison Hermès, where his striking design Cheval Punk is on display. We also met him in Paris inside the Émile Hermès collection rooms and at Hermès Studio Dessins, where he finds inspiration for his work.
――The first encounter
Most of the designs I make for Hermès are for carré scarves. My first interaction with Hermès was in 2009, when I submitted an entry to a tie design competition and won a special award. I began working with Hermès after that; Christophe Goineau, creative director of men’s silk, invited me to work together to create a scarf based on my competition submission. At the time, I was working as a textile designer. I focused on men’s scarves for a while, but around 2022, I started working on women’s designs as well.
――Expanding the imagination
Even if I come up with an unconventional design that may be difficult for Hermès to apply to an objet, Christophe will get excited with me and say, “I like this idea; it’s fun. Let's expand on it a bit more.” He is a masterful creative director. I get swept up in his energy and find my own imagination expanding until I end up creating something that surprises even me. Christophe and everyone else at Hermès takes the time to have one-on-one conversations with every artist—not just me—and treats our imaginations and ideas with respect.
――What is drawing?
I think it’s the starting point for design. When I contemplate a design, I start drawing to give shape to the images, ideas, and stories in my mind. When I’m working with Hermès, this might involve sketching items in the Émile Hermès collection or doodling whatever comes to mind. Later, I look over these drawings, allow my imagination to expand, and discover what it is I need to draw. Drawing is the origin of imagination; everything begins with drawing. Imagination is important to me, as it is to Hermès.
――The story of Cheval Punk
Almost all of my designs for Hermès are based on items from the Émile Hermès collection, which is housed at the flagship Paris store on the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré. Back when people used fountain pens and ink to write letters, they had brushes for cleaning the pen nibs. In the collection, I found a cleaning brush in the shape of a horse. The brush itself is formed from the mane, which looks rather like a mohawk. From that, I came up with the idea of a punk horse, which became Cheval Punk. Christophe and I batted ideas back and forth throughout the design process. He is a music connoisseur who knows a lot about punk culture, so he was the one to suggest tartan for the background.
――Succulent Sultan—also inspired by the collection
Napoleon III had a favourite horse named Sultan, whom he had immortalized in the shape of an ice cream mould. I found the mould in the collection one day, and the story fascinated me. I began wondering what would happen if I made ice cream using that mould. That thought led to the design for the Succulent Sultan beach towel.
――My own style
Sometime after I began working with Hermès, I hit a creative wall. Christophe suggested I create things that felt like me—things that were “Daiske-like”—but for a while I couldn’t figure out what that meant. When I looked back at my proposals, I realized I was drawing things that felt like they fit Hermès, that were “Hermès-like”. So I asked myself, What do I really love? That’s when I started to remember the manga and anime imagery I drew as a child, as well as the manga and anime I loved. When I started mixing these Japanese cultural elements into my work, Christophe loved it. I was able to evolve as a designer. My family moved a lot as a child, and whenever I started attending a new school, my skill at drawing popular manga characters became a way for me to make friends. While I may have used manga and anime imagery as a form of communication back then, my drawings from that time have become the foundation of who I am today.
Nomura was born in Tokyo and spent his childhood moving between Japan and Europe. He studied oil painting and moved to New York to study at the Parsons School of Design and later, after graduation, worked in a textile design studio. He moved back to Japan in 2006 and began working as a freelance designer. In 2009, he received the Special Award for Design Innovation at Les cravates par Hermès. Since then, he has been collaborating with Hermès through both hand-drawn and digital art.
