Hermès: The Office of a Dreamer

The Office of a Dreamer

Published in Oryx, Qatar Airways inflight magazine – August 2018

Paris’ private Émile Hermès Collection is a treasure trove of handcrafted objects from throughout the ages that inspires the spirit of the brand today.

Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré in the 1st arrondissement of Paris is one of the most luxurious streets in the world, home to flagship stores for many of the world’s biggest fashion houses. Overlooking this sartorially rich street is a historic office containing a hidden treasure trove that few people ever set eyes on. Here, if you are lucky enough to receive an invitation to visit, you’ll discover a series of interconnected rooms overflowing with centuries-old leather-bound books, elaborate saddles, bridles and other equine paraphernalia. There are dozens of glass cabinets of curiosities – housing items including an 18th-century hunting knife and a stingray-skin spyglass called an indiscrète, both used by director Sofia Coppola in her 2006 film Marie Antoinette – and even an 18th-century horse-drawn duc carriage, adorned with ornate carvings of cupid. The sheer volume of artefacts contained in the labyrinthine rooms is almost overwhelming, like stepping into another world. It’s the world of Émile Hermès, the grandson of the founder of luxury brand Hermès – and it’s this wondrous space that the brand’s contemporary designers turn to for inspiration today. “It is a private collection,” says curator Ménéhould de Bazelaire du Chatelle. “It’s a kind of Ali Baba’s cave, and it’s very unusual. Émile Hermès had no boundaries – he collected anything that could tell a story about movement, comfort and elegance throughout different ages and cultures. These pieces are from all around our planet – Japan, China, Argentina, Africa, India – beautiful artefacts made to accompany the adventures of human beings.”

The collection was started in 1882, when Émile Hermès was just 12 years old. He had earned his first tip, two French francs, making deliveries for his family’s company – which at that time was still focused on producing leather saddles and other equestrian accessories. On his way home, he passed the window of an antique dealer and spotted a small gentleman’s cane that, when unscrewed, contained a ladies’ sun parasol. “He spent all his first wealth to get this charming old object, and discovered he was a collector,” says de Bazelaire du Chatelle, as she demonstrates with white-gloved hands how the parasol works. “When he showed his find to his parents he got into trouble, as no one in his family was a collector. They thought he had wasted his money.”

The exquisite object, however, was far from a wasted expense. It was the birth of Émile Hermès’ lifelong passion for collecting, and that collection – which today numbers more than 13,000 objects – was the inspiration for a new direction for the Hermès brand in the early 1920s, as motorcars overtook horses as the primary mode of transport.

Instead of focusing solely on the production of luxury equestrian objects, Émile – who took over as president of the company when his sceptical older brother sold his share – moved the company into the world of couture. And within that world, Hermès created a kind of revolution, a more relaxed style of fashion that was unisex and sporty, and introduced leather detailing. He also created trunks, blankets and other objects for the burgeoning motor-car market – but always in the same spirit of craftsmanship and passion that the brand was known for.

And he never stopped collecting, often sneaking out of his office through a doorway hidden in a bookcase – which you can still find preserved in the museum today – to visit antique dealers at lunchtime. Today, these objects inspire the fashion house’s designers and artists; are installed in Hermès retail spaces as testament to the brand’s history; and are shown in exhibitions around the world, like Hermès Heritage, currently on tour.

“Émile Hermès was attracted by the past, but always to find in the past a spring for the imagination and the energy to imagine the future,” says de Bazelaire du Chatelle. “Hermès discovered that if we want to innovate we need to have our feet in the past and our eyes in the stars.”

Take, for example, the braided leather whip – belonging to a child’s goat-drawn carriage – that inspired the Hermès Fouet necklace designed by Pierre Hardy in 2011. The 20th-century object has been reimagined as an articulated platinum necklace, adorned with diamonds, that moves with the body when worn. Or, an early 19th-century silver nécessaire belonging to an officer in Napoleon’s army, which inspired Émile Hermès to create a luxury leather picnic case for motorists in the 1920s – it’s not the form or appearance that links these two objects, but their luxurious functionality and unparalleled craftsmanship. While the nécessaire contains silver tea sets, shaving mirrors and combs to compensate for the experience of living on a battlefield, the picnic set contains caviar pots, silver sandwich boxes, and fine cutlery to elevate the experience of roadside dining. “This nécessaire is a reminder that Hermès does not make absolute novelties,” says de Bazelaire du Chatelle. “Our mission is to keep on with a long tradition by creating useful and beautiful accessories. Beauty is important to our everyday lives and pleasure is a necessity.”

Many of the brand’s famous patterned silk scarves can also trace their origins back to these objects. The company’s first print was created by Robert Dumas, Émile Hermès’ son-in-law, in 1937. Titled Jeu des Omnibus et Dames Blanches, it was inspired by a popular 19th-century parlour game that resides in the museum. It’s one of the brand’s best-known designs, alongside Les Clés, which was designed in 1965 by artist Cathy Latham and was inspired by an 18th-century leather key pouch in the collection.

Although she has been working with the collection for 32 years, de Bazelaire du Chatelle is still discovering new stories. As she says: “This collection is like a forest – it is difficult to see any one thing in detail. But there is nothing here that is not worthy of our attention. Each object was a question of love and passion, and is an echo of the creativity of Hermès. It is a record of the history of craftsmanship throughout the ages and gives us the feeling of having a heritage. If we can remember where we come from, as a brand, we know better where we are going.” hermes.com