Interview I David Petit, Hermès

As a new member of the PCD jury, we thank you for accepting our invitation. Can you tell us what motivated your decision?

I’ve been going to PCD since the beginning of this event, I’ve seen it grow. We competed and won an award with Jour d’Hermès. So, today, as the manager of a development team, it seemed a logical step to participate in this jury to promote innovation within the profession as I do within my team.

In your own group, how will you go about selecting the products that will compete?

For the time being, Hermès does not wish to participate in these competitions, but the selection process is quite natural: the product must bring something new to the table, whether in terms of functionality, decoration, or the techniques used to manufacture it. I like it when the aesthetic elements bring an additional functionality to the object or the pack.

As a member of the jury, what will you look for in the other entries?

Well, that’s just it! And that there is a coherence between the aesthetic, technical and functional aspects to show that the product has been thought through as a whole.

What makes a “good” entry?

They present an object be a source of inspiration for all. The idea is not to copy or recopy, but to make people understand an approach that everyone can use to achieve a new result each time, depending on their identity and culture.

What does innovation mean to you?

This is a vast subject! Innovation is invention, it is succeeding in doing something never seen before, that we thought impossible, but also in a more modest way improvements that we say “it’s well thought out”. There are ‘from scratch’ innovations, but also all the continuous improvements that advance the technique in a global way. The great inventions are always multiply improved, reinterpreted and what we know today has little to do with the initial invention, take the example of the car or the telephone!
Innovating must become a culture, innovating takes us out of our daily lives and makes us grow.

What do you think is THE trend for the coming year in terms of packaging innovation?

In my opinion, the innovation trend of the year and even the decade is about limiting the environmental impact of our products and activities. Everything that contributes to low-carbon production, improving product recycling, reincorporating recycled materials, and multi-packaging is a step forward. In addition, this is very stimulating, as it gives meaning to our actions and places them in the medium to long term.

What are the innovations/projects that are very noteable to you in your career?

The launch of Voyage d’Hermès. A creation by Philippe Mouquet, where the bottle is thin enough to fit in a pocket, to take it everywhere, where the stirrup that surrounds the bottle serves as a cap and protects it during transport, which can be used with one hand. This is the moment when we reintroduced the screw pumps in our range in parallel with the development of the 125ml refill. The object is simple, functional, designed for travel, but already durable and refillable.

And more recently, the launch of the Lipstick, a creation of Pierre Hardy, again a beautiful object – functional, refillable and designed to last. These are quite refined products, which seem obvious, often the most technically complicated to make, but which we don’t want to throw away.