Hermès artistic director thinks big
05/03/2010
The artistic director of luxury brand Hermès, Pierre-Alexis Dumas, has spoken of the enjoyment he is taking from working on big products.
In a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, Mr Dumas pointed out that, until recently, the largest product Hermès designers got to work on was a suitcase. Since 2008, however, he and his colleagues have been able to turn their attention to much bigger things, including helicopters.
The EC135, a joint project with Eurocopter, a division of aerospace group EADS, came onto the market in 2008. But, with the involvement of the famous Paris fashion house, it immediately became known as l’Hélicoptère par Hermès.
"We've delivered two and we have six orders," Mr Dumas told the Wall Street Journal. "We're not into volume, especially in this large-scale design. It's the level of quality. We don't just come in and do decoration. With a helicopter, the priority is that it flies. We improved the design."
Leather plays an important part in that design: seats and banquette are handcrafted and upholstered in calf leathers that Hermès describes as "naturally grained and highly resistant". In response to customer wishes, Hermès craftsmanship has also focused on using leather to soften ambient noise and vibration in the interior of the craft.
Mr Dumas said he wanted now to apply the same principles to a yacht-making partnership with boat-builder Wally. The yacht they make will be wide and will not travel slowly. "Speed is so passé," he said. "What is luxury for tomorrow? One of them is time."
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