Hermes at Shanghai Exhibition Center — Hermès Savoir-Faire Global Tour (2026)

Shanghai Exhibition Center hosted Hermès' touring craft exhibition, with artisans demonstrating leatherwork, scarf rolling and watch assembly beneath the hall's domes.

The venue

The Shanghai Exhibition Center is a heritage exhibition complex on Yan'an Road in central Shanghai, built in a Soviet socialist-realist manner with a central dome, colonnaded wings and broad stone forecourts. Its halls normally carry trade fairs, industry expos and civic ceremonies rather than consumer brand presentations. Interiors pair high ceilings and ornate plasterwork with large open floor plates that can be partitioned for temporary displays.

How the space was used

During the run the halls were recast as an open workshop rather than a display case. Timber workbenches and brass tool racks were set out as demonstration stations for leatherwork, silk scarf rolling, watch assembly and tie-making, with artisans working in view of visitors who moved along a loose route between stations.

Why it works here

The center's formal, high-ceilinged halls give craft demonstration a public, museum-like gravity that a mall atrium cannot, and its central address draws a general Shanghai audience rather than boutique clients alone. Open floor plates absorb workbenches and visitor flow without retail-floor density.