Hermes in print

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An Exhibition by and About Hermès Showcases Process and Precision
Up now just outside of Detroit, the show features stations at which artisans, many of them flown in from Paris, stitch, paint and engrave.

“Hermès in the Making,” a traveling exhibition at which visitors can see artisans displaying their individual crafts, opened in Troy, Michigan, last week. Here, the master watchmaker Cesare Monticelli repairs a timepiece.Credit...Jarod Lew

By Max Berlinger New York Times
June 14, 2022, 4:25 p.m. ET
The latest incarnation of “Hermès in the Making,” a roving exhibition that’s already stopped in Copenhagen and Turin, Italy, has landed at the Somerset Collection shopping center in Troy, Michigan, just outside of Detroit. If this seems like a slightly surprising place for the French luxury brand to have set up shop, the show serves as a reminder, even if it’s an unspoken one, that both Hermès and the area have long and rich histories of craftsmanship, the latter as the longtime seat of the American auto industry and a locus of midcentury modern design, and the former as a producer of everything from saddles to scarves to porcelain.

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Curved pieces of wood, offset with pops of Hermès orange, are meant to evoke a craftsperson’s workbench.Credit...Jarod Lew



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Ceramic tableware that’s been hand-painted, a process that can take 35-40 hours per plate.Credit...Jarod Lew


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It endeavors to give a behind-the-scenes look at how Hermès’s team of artisans create and maintain some of these enduring objects and, in doing so, offers a window into what makes the fashion house stand out. As Guillaume de Seynes, an executive vice president at Hermès who oversees manufacturing and equity investments, says, it’s Hermès’s relationship to its makers — and their relationship to their respective crafts — that gives the maison its human touch, as well as integrity and a certain soulfulness.


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The artisan Anne-Claire Montchamp at the silk engraving station. The screen in front of her is used to print designs onto the brand’s silk scarves and ties.Credit...Jarod Lew



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“Hermès in the Making” has already made stops in Copenhagen and Turin, Italy, and will travel on to Austin and Tokyo later this year.Credit...Jarod Lew



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The brand has revived a special tanning process for its Volynka line, three bags from which are shown here.Credit...Jarod Lew


At the same time, he stresses that craftsmanship isn’t some stuffy, stagnant thing but, rather, always evolving. “It’s about learning,” he says. “As an artisan you’re constantly discovering, being confronted with new forms of creativity and developing know-how.” That spirit of openness and respect for technique is on display at 10 stations, at which 11 artisans, mostly flown in from Paris, who work for the house’s different métiers, demonstrate skills related to, among other things, silk printing, saddle making and leather repair.
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In one corner, you might find an artisan hand-painting cyan blue onto white ceramic tableware, creating scenes of wildcats and tropical flora. Elsewhere, you can observe a silk engraver who uses her computer’s touch screen to color and fill in the design that will then be printed onto the lustrous fabric. Or perhaps you’ll catch a whiff of the deep, earthy scent of Hermès’s Volynka line of mahogany brown leather bags. Last week saw an interactive workshop on the exacting process of leather stitching; guests got to take the fruits of their labors, stitched leather bookmarks, home with them. As part of the project, there have also been two panels, held at Detroit’s College for Creative Studies and moderated by Rebecca van Bergen of the nonprofit artisans’ guild Nest, on the concepts of repair and regeneration, with Aki Choklat, the chair of fashion design at the college, and the fashion designer (and Detroit native) Tracy Reese acting as panelists.

An interactive station where visitors learned the art of leather stitching with the artisan Angelique Sliwinski.Credit...Jarod Lew

Unsurprisingly, the exhibition space itself was also thoughtfully conceived. Curved strips of light wood connect one station to the next and evoke the look of a long deconstructed workbench. Each station also features whimsical tableaus — glass bottles holding vibrant powdered pigments for textile dyes, framed scarves hung against a canary yellow backdrop.

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The exhibition is being held behind Hermès’s Troy store, which opened last June.Credit...Jarod Lew


The show is located just behind an Hermès store, the area’s first, which opened last June. “Although we have only been here for about a year now, we have already noticed a tremendous community spirit,” says de Seynes, who points out certain parallels and connections. “Hermès was founded in 1837 in Paris as a harness maker, focusing on the main means of transportation at the time: the horse. In the early 20th century, with the invention of the automobile, it had to transform itself completely, proposing new objects like bags to its customers.” He continues: “Emile Hermès, my great-grandfather, discovered the reality of the automobile industry by visiting the United States in 1917, and understood the necessity of adapting.”

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Glass bottles filled with powdered pigments, which come in 75,000 different shades, used for Hermès scarves.Credit...Jarod Lew



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A display of objects from the brand’s Petit H program, which creates one-of-a-kind pieces from leftover materials. This chair was made from surplus materials from a saddle-making studio.Credit...Jarod Lew


Still, while not many people travel by horse these days, there’s something particularly transfixing about the saddle station. Watching the saddler at work, you might find that his enthusiasm becomes infectious. A nearby chair, part of the brand’s Petit H collection, is made from an unused saddle tree and leather pieces. “I hope that visitors leave with a profound understanding of the passion and pride that Hermès artisans embody in their careers as craftspeople,” de Seynes says. “Being able to talk with the artisans allows for visitors’ questions to be answered directly by the source — which is the best way to learn.” “Hermès in the Making” is on view through June 15.

 

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An Exhibition by and About Hermès Showcases Process and Precision


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“Hermès in the Making” has already made stops in Copenhagen and Turin, Italy, and will travel on to Austin and Tokyo later this year.Credit...Jarod Lew



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The brand has revived a special tanning process for its Volynka line, three bags from which are shown here.Credit...Jarod Lew

Loving that they have a Plume to display this time. When it was in Copenhagen, they had a Sac a Depeches instead of a Plume. I wanted to loan my bag to them just so I could tell people "well actually this bag was in an exhibit"

 

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Private/Public by Steven Klein

One of the photographs being auctioned at Sotheby's exhibit entitled Forms of Intimacy.

Happy Pride!

 

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Hermès Shows Double-digit Growth in H1, Driven by U.S. and Europe​

The brand's strong growth was driven by watches and ready-to-wear, and the return of tourists to Europe.

PARIS — Hermès is on a record-setting winning streak.

The French luxury goods company reported strong sales in the second quarter, up 26 percent to 2.7 billion euros, while achieving record operating profitability in the first half of the year, topping 42 percent of revenues for the first time.

Sales were driven by strong growth in retail, with the double-digit growth propelled by new store openings in the U.S. and China, and the return of tourists to Europe, despite price increases due to inflationary pressures.

“Thanks to the great sales momentum, the group achieved exceptional results,” Hermès International chief executive officer Axel Dumas said during a call with analysts after the results were published Friday morning.

The numbers significantly outperformed analysts’ expectations, as pent-up demand demonstrates the continued resilience of the luxury market.

In the second quarter, the company posted double-digit increases across all markets, with a 41.4 percent increase in the Americas; a 31.9 percent jump in Europe, marked by the strength of France and the return of tourism, and an increase in Asia excluding Japan, up by 19.1 percent. Japan itself was up 17.9 percent at current exchange rates.

The results marked the brand as likely the “most resilient luxury goods player in a recession,” as it beat market forecasts by a wide margin, Bernstein analyst Luca Solca said in a research note.

Watches were the strongest segment in the second quarter, jumping 59 percent in organic terms, an increase credited to the launch of two new models in the Heure H and the Cape Cod timepieces, while ready-to-wear showed nearly 36 percent growth on the strength of the brand’s accessories and footwear.

Hermès opened a store in Austin, Texas, in April one of the highlights of its U.S. growth strategy, as well as housing an exhibition in Detroit in June. The momentum resulted in a 34 percent boost in sales there.

In the call, Dumas noted the “speed of recovery” in mainland China and Hong Kong reflected the continued pent-up demand after store closures there in April and May, with June selling out the goods that had been held back, though he noted the continued shutdown in Macau was dampening the region.

Dumas addressed the economic uncertainties as global headwinds shift, and noted that market conditions will be diverse for the foreseeable future.

“We have to get used to a world which is fragmented, which was not the case before,” he said. He spliced the markets into three regions, notably Asia Pacific including the U.S. West Coast, other U.S. regions and Europe. Asia and the U.S. West are “phenomenal,” he said.

The U.S. sees “fragmentation between West Coast, East Coast and the center — the three are in progression and different momentum,” he said. Europe is “making up for lost time but may have more macro difficulties in the medium term.”

The brand continues to anticipate high demand for its products, even as supply chain and inflationary pressures resulted in 3.5 percent price increases earlier this year, a number which will hit 4 percent after another hike on July 1 in watches and jewelry because of the increased cost of gold and other metals, he noted.

“I believe that our products are so incredible and incredibly made that we don’t need to have a luxury image by increasing without ground on our products pricing even if we can,” he said. “We will be able to pass [on] the inflationary pressure in 2023 because we have, I think, always been consistent and coherent in this pricing policy.”

He noted that there is no surplus stock across categories, despite the increases. “What has been incredible during the semester is the success of our collection, which means that what we produce is sold, and there is no constitution of stock, which is not exactly a normal situation.”

Dumas addressed the speculation that the brand is inducing scarcity in order to boost its prices, but said the company’s focus on quality and handmade goods is the root.

“They talk about almost a conspiracy that we don’t produce on purpose. That’s not true,” he said, chalking it up to a labor and supply chain squeeze, particularly in leather goods. “There may be bottlenecks.” Other sectors are making up for that scarcity, namely watches, jewelry and home. He noted the company will not invest in machinery to boost production, which he said leads to company resiliency.

If the excess demand trickles down into the secondary market — one sector other luxury companies are investing heavily in — Hermès does not condone such sales channels.

“It’s a pity and this not something that is encouraged by Hermès, and this is in fact something that we don’t approve of,” Dumas said. “It obliges real customers to buy products that are much more costly in other situations and sometimes mixed with counterfeited products, and this is something that we don’t do and don’t at all support knowing that there is a certain hypocrisy in the secondhand market when its products are almost new.”

Looking ahead, the company will open a new flagship store on Madison Avenue in New York in the second half of the year, along with stores in Barcelona, Spain, and Strasbourg, France. Two new stores will open in China — a second Shanghai outpost and one in Wuhan, while stores in Doha, Qatar; Dubai, U.A.E.; Bangkok, and Hong Kong will be renovated and expanded.

An e-commerce platform will roll out in Brazil in the second half, and Dumas noted that online sales are made up of 78 percent of customers that are new to the brand.

He remained bullish about the company’s strength and luxury allure. “Of course, we all read the newspapers of great interest with what’s being said and we see various notes and so forth being written and saying this and that. But you know that Hermès traditionally tends to be impacted after others, fairly infrequently are we the first to be affected,” he said.


Hermès store in South Coast Plaza, Calif.

Hermès Shows Double-digit Growth in H1, Driven by U.S. and Europe

The brand’s strong growth was driven by watches and ready-to-wear, and the return of tourists to Europe.

wwd.com

 

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Grazia UK Interview with Jane Birkin

"Her short brown hair is flicked this way and that as she speaks, and her Birkin, the Hermes bag that famously took her name after an encounter with the French label’s then-chief Jean-Louis Dumas on a flight from Paris to London in 1984, sits plumply beside her on the sofa. It’s big and black, but covered in stickers and hung with kitsch Japanese trinkets, perfume sachets and, most importantly, her door keys. ‘It’s perfectly unrecognisable from being a chic bag,’ she says happily. She’s clearly not a traditionalist. ‘It was quite fun. Once on Japanese television, they had a Birkin bag. It was all very ceremonious. They gave it to me and I jumped on it immediately with both feet. I said the whole point is to make it look old and battered as fast as possible. They were horror-struck.’"

 

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