Following on from its pursuits in mushroom leather with MycoWorks and working with sustainable fabrications, French Maison Hermès has now taken its innovations to whole another level.

Working in collaboration with American artist Ben Denzer, most notably known for his work with Ice Cream Books, a new vegetable Hermès Birkin has emerged. Reinterpreting the Maisons icon and hero handbag, the new vegetable Birkin was revealed along with two other styles last week, neatly compromised and arranged from all vegetables including asparagus, cabbage and cucumbers.

With little explanation except for a social media caption that read "enjoy the detour as classic Hermès bags inspire art good enough to eat," it is questioned whether the artist collaboration with Ben Denzer is hinting on a bigger release of vegan leather goods in the future.

 

 

Vegetables were sliced and stalks were bent to be curved into handles, with nothing going to waste including vegetable skin Birkin padlocks and thinly sliced vegetable bag tags. With only three vegetable bags released on the brands platform, other quirky Hermès renditions by Ben Denzer were shared on the artists account, entering in the world of fruit with Hermes purses made from apples and bananas.

Unique glimpses into behind the scenes and the making of the bags were shared by the artist, including cutting boards and skewer sticks used to hold the infrastructure of the vegetables and fruit together. Due to the perishable state of the bags, they are not for sale or yet to make it into stores and with very little news about its public exhibition.

The vegetable Birkin is a humorous and light hearted follow on from the brands most recent endeavour into vegetable leathers with the release of its equally iconic Victoria bag in MycoWorks mushroom leather. The full collection of vegetable and fruit bags are available on show through the artists social media platforms, Ben Denzer.