Key Highlights
- HERMÈS released a 13-second animated film titled One, two, three, four… in June 2026, directed by animator Sébastien Lyky.
- The film centres on the Chaîne d’Ancre motif, one of the maison’s most enduring and recognisable design signatures.
- The Circuit 24 Faubourg ashtray, a piece from the HERMÈS Home collection, is the featured object in the campaign.
- The film is part of the broader Golden H campaign, connecting HERMÈS’s decorative arts universe to its house codes.
- HERMÈS was founded in Paris in 1837 and remains a family-owned house producing objects across fashion, jewellery, watches, and home décor.
A Parisian Maison and Its Most Hypnotic Motif
Founded in 1837 by Thierry Hermès in the heart of Paris, HERMÈS began as a workshop producing the finest harnesses and saddles for European nobility. Nearly two centuries later, the family-owned house has expanded into one of the most comprehensive luxury universes in the world — encompassing bags, scarves, watches, jewellery, perfumes, and an entire world of home objects. Yet across all of these categories, certain design codes persist, threading themselves through the maison’s output with remarkable consistency.
Among these codes, the Chaîne d’Ancre stands apart. Originally inspired by a ship’s anchor chain, the interlinking motif has become one of HERMÈS’s most reproduced and celebrated visual signatures. It appears on fine jewellery, on leather goods, on enamelled bracelets, and — as this recent animated film makes elegantly clear — on objects for the home. The motif’s power lies in its ability to multiply: one link leads to another, and suddenly the pattern becomes something altogether more consuming than the sum of its parts.
The short film One, two, three, four…, released in June 2026, captures precisely this quality. Animated by Sébastien Lyky, the piece follows the Chaîne d’Ancre motif as it proliferates across the frame in a rhythm that is at once orderly and slightly hypnotic. It is a study in controlled repetition — and a reminder that the most enduring design languages are those that reward sustained attention.
The Circuit 24 Faubourg Ashtray and the HERMÈS Home Universe
At the heart of the film is the Circuit 24 Faubourg ashtray, an object from the HERMÈS Home collection that carries the Chaîne d’Ancre motif into the domestic sphere. The HERMÈS Home universe is a significant expression of the maison’s philosophy: that the standards of craft applied to a saddle or a silk scarf should be no less exacting when applied to an object that sits on a desk or a dining table. Functional in purpose but refined in execution, pieces like the Circuit 24 Faubourg ashtray reflect this conviction.
The name itself — Circuit 24 Faubourg — references the maison’s historic address at 24 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré in Paris, a location that has anchored the HERMÈS identity for generations. By embedding this address into an object’s name, the house draws a direct line between place, heritage, and craft. For collectors in the GCC, where HERMÈS holds a strong presence and the maison’s home objects are sought after as much as its leather goods, such objects carry considerable resonance.
Sébastien Lyky and the Art of the Animated Campaign
The choice of animation as a medium for this campaign is deliberate and precise. Sébastien Lyky, credited as the animator behind One, two, three, four…, brings a sensibility that suits the Chaîne d’Ancre’s inherent geometry. Where a still photograph might capture a single arrangement of the motif, animation allows the pattern to breathe, expand, and accumulate — mirroring the way the chain, by its very nature, is always adding another link. In thirteen seconds, Lyky distils what might take a curator an entire exhibition to convey.
Short-form campaign films of this kind have become an important part of how luxury houses communicate with audiences who consume content across multiple platforms simultaneously. Rather than a lengthy documentary or a runway presentation, the thirteen-second format demands that every frame carry meaning. For HERMÈS, a house that has always treated constraint as a creative discipline — from the dimensions of a silk carré to the proportions of a Kelly bag — this brevity is entirely in keeping with its wider philosophy. The official campaign film is available to view on the HERMÈS YouTube channel.
Why It Matters
For luxury collectors and enthusiasts across the GCC, where HERMÈS enjoys deep cultural appreciation and consistent demand, this film is a timely reminder that the maison’s design language is as vital in its decorative arts as it is in its most celebrated fashion categories. The Chaîne d’Ancre’s journey from jewellery signature to animated motif on a home object speaks to the coherence of the HERMÈS universe — and to the enduring relevance of a house that has never needed to shout to be heard.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Chaîne d'Ancre motif and why is it significant to HERMÈS?
The Chaîne d'Ancre is one of HERMÈS's most recognisable design signatures, taking the form of an interlinked chain pattern that references the maison's equestrian and maritime heritage. It appears across the house's collections, from jewellery to home objects, serving as a unifying visual code.
What is the Circuit 24 Faubourg ashtray featured in the HERMÈS animation?
The Circuit 24 Faubourg ashtray is a HERMÈS home object highlighted in the campaign, bearing the Chaîne d'Ancre motif. It is part of the broader HERMÈS Home collection, which encompasses a wide range of finely crafted decorative and functional objects.
Who created the animation in the HERMÈS 'One, two, three, four…' film?
The animation was created by Sébastien Lyky for HERMÈS, bringing the hypnotic multiplication of Chaîne d'Ancre motifs to life in a short-form visual piece released in June 2026.
