STORIES A Work of Art to Celebrate the Art of Working Together

A multidisciplinary artist with a foundation in architecture, ‘Hydrane’ is no mere designer.  Nor is she a painter or sculptor, neither a conceptual nor a graphic artist; she is all of these things.  Based in a studio in Paris’ 6B,  a building which is creative home to over 200 artists, Hydrane worked primarily on architectural commissions until 2021.  

But since then, she has described herself more accurately as an artist – with an emphatic love for design.  Having created designs since childhood, her artwork has evolved over time toward the urban and the site-specific.  Initially this began in abandoned buildings, on walls, in a dance with architecture that was strangely appropriate.

The artist chose her name for its association with water (hydra); she is drawn to the multiplicity of forms – and the literal ‘fluidity’ –  associated with water, capable of shifting forms from solid to liquid to gas and back in a mysterious, limitless cycle.  In a similar way she shifts effortlessly between various media – from sculpture to painting to bas relief, and beyond.  

Drawn to her expressive ability in combining disciplines, TAG Heuer commissioned Hydrane to create a work inspired by the new TAG Heuer Carrera X Porsche Limited Edition timepiece.  Her remarkable interpretation of this eye-catching collaboration draws on the classic lines of the Porsche 911, elevated to new sculptural heights. This three-dimensional tour de force is part-painting, part-sculpture, part-car and part-watch, uniting the graphic elements of the Limited Edition’s iconic black and yellow accents with the shapely elegance of Porsche design. 

When we spoke to Hydrane about her approach, she shared with us that her background in architecture and design made this project an exciting challenge; in her words, “creativity arrives unconsciously, each work suggests its own colours, shapes, and forms.” So what caught her magination when it came to this project? She related that she drew inspiration from the “beauty of Porsche form and design”, along with the “spirit of precision, and the very heights of technology” innate to TAG Heuer’s DNA. As a result, she explained, there was a certain pressure to achieve perfection – but also a great pleasure in expressing the union of these two world experts in performance and beauty. 

Hydrane’s work takes pride of place in TAG Heuer’s booth at Watches & Wonders 2022, a vivid expression of the fruitful collaboration between TAG Heuer and Porsche; while still quite young (at less that two years old) this union has already resulted in two remarkable timepieces that have captured the imaginations of many a watch-lover… and promises great things yet to come.