From the Bronze Age to the present, metal has embodied power, endurance and mystery. Alchemists once revered it as the material of transmutation, and blacksmiths, who mastered the art of molding metal with fire, were seen as keepers of divine knowledge.
Ginza Maison Hermès revisits this legacy through a group exhibition that explores the elemental, cultural and symbolic dimensions of one of humanity’s most transformative materials. Curated to accompany the Hermès Foundation’s publication Savoir & Faire: Metal (Iwanami Shoten, 2025), the exhibition reflects on the ambivalence of metal – its duality as both raw matter and refined craft, as nature shaped by human hand.
The show presents the works of three artists: Chu Enoki, who breathes new life into industrial scrap and relics of weaponry; Maiko Endo, whose films merge mercury and vermilion to bridge inner and cosmic worlds; and Élodie Lesourd, who reinterprets heavy metal music through hyperrealist painting and semiotic play.
Together, their works illuminate how metal, through sound, image and form, continues to shape the human imagination. Presented across the luminous 8th and 9th floors of Le Forum, the exhibition invites visitors to experience the alchemy between material, meaning and creation that defines our modern relationship with this ancient element.
