Sarah Martinon — Hermès window Dec 2025

Sarah Martinon — Hermès window, December 2025

Sarah Martinon created Hermès’ 'Artist’s Studio with a View' window in December 2025, and her painted worlds have driven a rethink across luxury branding — from Chanel animations to shopfronts shoppers actually want to step into.

What matters here is simple: after a wave of AI experiments in fashion, brands and audiences are responding to visibly human work. Martinon’s pattern-driven illustrations — developed from wallpaper-scale motifs into murals and full-scale sets — feel tactile and deliberate in a way pixel‑perfect AI often does not. That sense of craft is why her Hermès window and recent Chanel commissions landed so widely, and loudly, this year.

Her collaboration with Chanel began in 2025, when she was brought on for the Winter Constellation holiday campaign and a Special Astro 2026 project for Madame Figaro. Director Gordon von Steiner shot model Lulu Tenney against blue screen while animator Armand Béraud brought Martinon’s drawings to life; the team even played a Vashti Bunyan track on set as they imagined the film’s worlds. The result puts a human hand at the centre of the cinematic surface.

Martinon’s career arc is practical and deliberate: after working in a two‑person graphic studio she returned to drawing and pattern work inspired by the likes of Barbara Hulanicki, which opened commissions for fabric, wallpaper and later, murals. Projects include panoramic designs for Christian Lacroix Maison, collections for Arte, and packaging patterns for ABASK. Hermès then asked her to build a full window world — painted books, desks and tiny hidden details — that visitors could discover again and again.

"My drawings became the space itself and interacted with her,"

— Sarah Martinon on how her work moved from surfaces onto screen.

For music and culture fans the relevance is twofold: first, the collaborations show how hand-made visual art can complement filmed performance and soundtracks; second, the backlash against AI visuals has become a cultural touchpoint. Martinon’s success underlines a market appetite for authenticity and for creative decisions that feel like an investment rather than a cost cut.

Hermès has already asked for more windows. Martinon is working on books and new drawings, and her approach — oversized patterns, theatrical colour and a willingness to dress whole rooms with imagery — looks set to keep appearing across fashion and lifestyle projects.