Hermès: Preserving Craftsmanship

| No Comments

Thumbnail image for Hermes artisans in Bellevue.JPG

Hermès artisans at the Bravern in Bellevue: glove maker (Gantier) Laurent Faure; saddler (Sellier) Vincent Leopold, te maker (Confectionneuse de cravate) Severine Blanchon; customized shirt specialist (Artisan Chemise) Nadia Chabane; leathermaker Romain Vieille; Watchmaker Luc Hiegl, Silk Printers Kamel Hamadou and Henri Lely; silk engraver - Nadine Rabilloud

You can buy a Chinese knock-off for five bucks at Walmart, so why bother paying $375 for a genuine Hermès silk? Part of the rationale, no doubt, is the prestige of owning something by Hermès, but there's an even better reason: luxury goods are part of tradition of fine craftsmanship that is worth preserving.

Hermès started out in 1837 making harnesses; a century later, the company had become a leader in several other fields of leather-working, and created its first silk scarf. It takes 300 cocoons (from Brazil) to make one carré, 450 kilometers of silk, woven into a one-meter-square. An enormous amount of craftsmanship goes into each item, from the design (only 20 new ones each year) to the exacting color separations (as many as 45 colors) to the application of the dyes (dark to light, outside to inside). At the Hermès silk workshops in Lyon, the silkscreening tables are 150 meters long; for the show that's currently at the Bravern, there's a single station to demonstrate how it's done.

Exhibit designer Paola Navona w Rune Ricciardelli.JPGThe exhibit was created by Paola Navona, an architect and interior designer from Milan, who envisioned an undersea theme of interlocking carbon-fiber rods to connect the dozen or so "workshops" in the as-yet unrented and unadorned space. The show travels from here to Chicago, then to Washington, DC, before spending the rest of the year in European capitals.

How and why did Seattle land the première? No specific answer, except that the Bravern needs to reassert its position as Seattle's most prestigious shopping venue (in addition to Hermès, there's Louis Vuitton, Jimmy Choo, Neiman Marcus, Brooks Brothers, Salvatore Ferragamo, and so on). And it's a good deal for Hermès as well, to remind Seattle that the craftsmen and women who create luxury goods are no less important than artisan farmers.

Hermès Festival des Métiers at The Shops at the Bravern, 11 AM to 6 PM daily through February 28th. Free.

Slideshow of images from the event below

Leave a comment

About this Entry

This page contains a single entry by Cornichon published on February 24, 2011 8:30 AM.

A Disappointing Revival of "Threepenny Opera" was the previous entry in this blog.

To Boldly Go Where No Man Delivers Pizza is the next entry in this blog.

Find recent content on the main index or look in the archives to find all content.

Archives