Hermès 'Pippa' Folding Desk

Exquisite 'Pippa' writing desk made in pearwood and natural cowhide, in a colour Hermès call 'Naturel Sable'. A modern interpretation of eighteenth and nineteenth century Campaign style furniture. Uniquely, this example comes with a bespoke made canvas carry case trimmed in leather that the original owner of the desk commissioned from Hermès when he purchased the desk.

Impressed with the manufacturer’s, 'Diamond touch mark’, to the desk interior by the left hand drawer. Also impressed with the manufacturer's mark next to the left hand hinge, 'Hermès Paris Made in France’.

Dimensions-

Canvas and leather case: 80cm/31½ inches (width) x 50cm/19¾ inches (height) x 19cm/7½ inches (max. thickness).

Desk open: 82.5 cm/32½ inches (max. width) x 69.25cm/27¼ inches (depth) x 80.5 cm/31¾ inches (max. height).

It was not until 1983 that Rena Dumas began designing wood furniture. The Hermès Pippa line is a range of foldable and easy-to-move furniture that was imagined by Rena Dumas and Peter Coles, in the Hermès spirit of “moving with elegance”.
This desk, by Dumas in collaboration with Peter Coles, is completely collapsible, folding to the depth of a briefcase. Dumas said of the concept: “Beyond beauty or ugliness, (folding furniture) has a supplementary dimension, a kind of added value… Well made, it lives in harmony with its user.”

The desk is considered a worthy inclusion in the collection at the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum.