Hermès Sac Symbiose Rouge Vif Ostrich Vert Olive Doblis Box Calf Gold Hardware

Hermès Sac Symbiose Rouge Vif Ostrich Vert Olive Doblis Box Calf Gold Hardware

The Symbiose collection of 1986 is the most contained creative burst in modern Hermès history: twelve designs by Marie-Pierre Bernard, an outside designer trained in architecture and sculpture at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Lyon, whose work for the house began with a letter to Jean-Louis Dumas and ended with this single collection. Dumas held her to one condition, that the designs not deviate from the Hermès style, and the collection's character lives in that tension: sculptural asymmetry, deliberate material collision, and surrealist construction executed inside the house's saddle-stitched discipline. The line was never reissued.

This example carries the collection's signature material disagreement: a Rouge Vif ostrich body against a Vert Olive Doblis flap, Bleu Marine Box Calf at the yoke binding and shoulder strap, and a multicolor Doblis fringe in olive and navy falling from the yoke line, matte quill against suede nap against polished calf. The cadena is the Elephant, the 1988 annual cadena and among the most pursued of the series, matching the bag's R ○ (1988) stamp year for year.

Condition: 2 – Excellent
Stamp: R ○ (1988)
Color: Rouge Vif / Vert Olive / Bleu Marine
Leather: Ostrich (body) / Doblis (flap, fringe) / Box Calf (yoke, strap)
Hardware: Gold (Elephant Cadena, 1988)
Includes: Dust Bag
Dimensions: Inquire
Strap Drop: Inquire

Collector's Insight:
Bernard was never part of the maison's design staff; she came in for one collection, produced twelve documented designs over roughly four years of production, and did not continue with Hermès afterward, which makes every Symbiose piece a fixed-supply artifact of a closed chapter. Tri-material vintage Hermès of this construction requires specialist authentication, and the combination of saddle-stitched ostrich, Doblis, and Box Calf with a period-correct annual cadena and properly executed circle stamp is beyond counterfeit reproduction. The complete Symbiose history is documented in the JaneFinds Symbiose feature.

Resale Insight:
Symbiose pieces transact through historical auction records and specialist vintage channels rather than standard Hermès secondary-market pricing. Documented examples surface infrequently, with the collection's flagship silhouettes clearing well into five figures at recent sale, and excellent-condition survivors with original cadena hardware trade as fixed-supply collector instruments rather than active inventory.

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