Repurposing Hermes with Petit h

Leave it to Hermes to turn scraps and garbage into fancy trinkets. The french luxury goods maker finally put their anal qualities to good use by scrounging up their marred, defected, or unused high quality materials and repurposed them into pieces of art, or useful leather goods, and even toys for the chic tots of the world. The capsule collection, called Petit h, is designed by a variety of artists and Hermes employees/designers. It is a widely known that Hermes holds itself to a higher standard in terms of the quality. I saw first-hand the painstaking hours (around 18 to be exact) of work that went into making one Kelly bag last year at The Festival of Crafts. The many stuffed animals created by different artists are made from scrap pieces of leather or gator skins, so little Timmy can have a life-size deer that matches his mommy's Birkin. My personal favorite from the collection is the necklace made from a chipped pieces of china from the white and silver collection. The more obscene pieces are scrap leather turned into coffee-cozies... I know. Either way, repurposing these luxe materials is a great way to be chic and green, letting nothing go to waste. 

Gifts All Around, Hermes Orange

Say goodbye to the little blue box, and hello to the little (or big) orange box. Hermes is known for their amazing leather goods, but the historic French company has unknowingly become a home decor company as well. Their iconic and vibrant orange and brown gift boxes are making their mark in homes all around the world. Whether in a closet, or in a kitchen, the freshly colored boxes add a little color to any room, all the while displaying quite a status symbol. I can't say that I'm really on board with littering a house with gift boxes; I can understand keeping them in a closet, because you may keep the goods in their respective boxes when not in use, but I doubt anyone is keeping their Birkin boxed up in the foyer. Either way, I am glad to see that it's Hermes boxes being showcased throughout homes because of their chic and bright color, rather than a dark brown Vuitton box.

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Luxury for your Gadgets

Heremes BlackBerry Cases

Back in the day, one could have a custom sleeping cot for traveling made by Louis Vuitton, and now Louis Vuitton, among others, are making leathergoods for your gadgets. It's quite interesting to see how some of the world's oldest and finest luxury goods companies are adapting to their customers' needs by designing extraordinarily luxe compartments for such gadgets nowadays. And if you don't like the pre-made items for your stuff, most companies are always willing to customize their items to fit your specific needs, including hot-stamping initials, painting designs, or completely redesigning the piece and remaking it for your needs. 

Symthson BlackBerry Case

Gucci BlackBerry Case

Louis Vuitton iPhone case

Gucci iPad sleeve

Smythson iPad Sleeve

Louis Vuitton iPad Sleeve

Kenton Sorenson iPad Pouch

Louis Vuitton Laptop Case

Festival of Crafts, Part Trois

The exhibit hosted a Hermès shirt maker, a pattern maker for the scarves, neck tie maker, diamond setter, watcher maker, and saddle maker. Each of these craftsmen spend many hours at a table stitching, outlining, sewing, and hammering small and dunique details in to the gorgeous Hermès items. One of my favorite stations was the designing of on the scarves onto sheets of plastic that will be used to make the screen for the screen-printing of each scarf, all done by a petite French woman named Nadine. She makes a sheet for every color that is in the scarf, and adds any detail such as shading all by hand (basically, if the motif has 30 colors, she makes 30 sheets). The scarf she displayed at the exhibit had over 30 colors, and will take approximately 420 hours. The quality of work that is used throughout the scarf making process is absolutely astounding. 

Nadine adds shading to the plastic with an electric pen. An alternative to the electric pen is a sheet of textured paper, with a regular pencil with Chinese ink. 

The exhibit also hosted a watch maker, who displayed the craftsmanship and quality of the classic timepieces. The watch maker, Mahander was from New York, and does repairs on watches sent in by customers. He  displayed all of the tiny pieces that went into a traditional Hermès watch and even let me try one on with the classic Hermès Orange rubber band. 

Every Hermès shirt takes around 8 hours, making each shirt maker craft one shirt a day. A custom shirt order can take around 6 weeks to arrive because the shirt is actually made in France and goes through a thorough inspection before it is sent to the customer. 

The shirt maker's accessories displayed in the chic Hermès orange boxes.

The saddle maker uses a high-grade string that is thicker than fishing line and outlines the entire saddle. The saddler is cautious about stringing the thread through because it is large enough to cut and can be very dangerous.  

The saddle maker seems to have the most physically straining job, many times using his own bodyweight to manipulate the saddle in different positions so to stitch everywhere needed. 

Like all Hermès pieces, the saddle is branded and given a number of the saddler, which also tells the date the saddle was made. 

With all the nooks on the saddle, the saddler uses a pick to stretch certain parts of the saddle so he can stitch through. 

Pictures taken by Tim Schroeder for Standard Luxe

Festival of Crafts, Part Deux

One of the most coveted accessories in the world is the Hermès Kelly Bag. This specific handbag is crafted entirely by hand, and takes anywhere from 18 to 20 hours. One craftsman makes the bag from start to finish, and actually is named on each bag by a number on the palladium finish. A French native named Pierre was at the exhibit crafting the 8cm Orange Kelly Bag. Pierre was one of the only two craftsman at the exhibit who was not from France, but rather New York. Pierre works for Hermès doing repairs on the handbags at the Madison Avenue store. The amount of attention and detail spent on each bag is outstanding and cannot be found anywhere else in the world.

The handle of the bag is the most time-consuming, taking approximately eight hours. Four hours for each side of the handle is average, because of the quality and durability behind the all-leather handle. 

Each hand-sewn seam is hammered down to smooth the seam, making the bag softer and less rigid. The Kelly bag comes in two versions, one has the seam exposed on the outside, and the other hides the seams on in the inside (making the craftsman work from inside to out).

Stitching the handle is one of the most strenuous jobs for any Hermès bag. 

Hermès crafted their hardware in a way that is so unique and revolutionary that it is not done anywhere else. They noticed over the years that screws used in bags eventually came unscrewed, so they decided to use screws, but too long of screws. The extra length on the screw is cut down to a minimal length, and then hammered down, making the metal spread past the screw hole, ensuring the screw will not pass through the hole again. This tactic is called pearling and is absolutely brilliant. 

Hammering down the screw required exquisite precision

Pearled screws

After many hours, the Kelly Bag finally has working handles made by Pierre. 

The stitching around the entire bag is done by hand and is guided by a wooden block, so the stitch doesn't get out of line.  

Before the craftsman actually starts stitching, he indents the leather with a special tool that will guide his stitching, making the route of the stitch easier. 

The bag is then constructed to its living shape by stitching the side pieces of leather to the back and front with one long string that has needles at each end. Each side takes a little over an hour. 

The bag is fully constructed, but sits inside out because this specific bag will have the stitching hidden on the inside, making the craftsman stitch from the inside. 

The seams are once again hammered down to fill any lose space and make the bag smooth and streamlined. 

The edges of each piece of leather is completely raw, causing the craftsman to sand the edges in preparation for the paint. 

The paint always matches the bag's color, and is carefully applied, even though it will not be seen because it they are on the inside of the bag. 

An oil-based paint is applied with a tiny sponge, and goes only along the unfinished edge of the leather, creating another layer of adhesive. 

The paint on the edge of the seams is then melted down with a heated tool, making a wax-like feel for the edges. 

At this point, the bag is fully constructed and stuck together, however it must be flipped inside out. 

Flipping the bag required much muscle but also tenderness as to not damage any part of the delicate calfskin leather bag.

The craftsman starts from the bottom and rolls the sides upwards using two wooden rods in the bag, rolling the leather on the rods, making a smoother roll. 

Once the bag is turned inside out, the craftsman crafts the edges of the bag so they sit perfectly and do not fold in. 

Pliers are used at one point to caress the edges outward.

And once again the hammer is used to force the seams and the edges to lay out and keep the bag's perfect structure. 

The bag's hardware is polished off after the front strap is pulled through the holes, and is ready to be inspected by a supervisor, and eventually sold. 

Pierre proudly displaying the 8cm Hermès Kelly bag in Orange. This typical bag will take around 18 hours to craft in the factory but it took Pierre from Thursday to Wednesday to craft this bag, because of his explanations of each process. I would really like to thank Pierre for his kindness and willingness to explain everything he was doing and why. 

All photos taken by Tim Schroeder for Standard Luxe