This week, 60 Minutes correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi stepped behind the silk curtain of Hermès, the iconic French fashion house.
Hermès was founded in 1837 by its namesake, Thierry Hermes, a master craftsman who made harnesses, bridles and saddles of the highest quality to equip the horse-drawn carriages of wealthy Europeans.
Today you can still buy a handmade, custom saddle, along with ready-to-wear, luggage, fragrances and of course the brand’s beloved scarves and handbags.
60 Minutes producer Michael Karzis explained that Hermès continues to handcraft one of its most iconic products despite relentless demand.
“One handbag is made by one artisan, from start to finish, and it can take 20 to 30 hours to make,” Karzis told 60 Minutes Overtime.
“It’s anathema to the way major companies operate… against the pressures of speed and compromises on quality, to meet that demand.”
Perfection isn’t easy and mistakes happen. If there is an idiosyncratic stitch or an off color, the item cannot be sold in a boutique. And when a line of scarves at Hermès comes to an end, they are removed from the shelves.
“We wanted to know what happened to all that material,” said story producer Karzis.
In 2010, Hermès started Petit h, a unique workshop where creatives and artisans collect piles of materials and rejected items and use them to create new products.
Alfonsi and Karzis visited the Petit h workshop in a Parisian suburb to interview the workshop
director Camille Parenty and artistic director Godefroy de Virieu.
A surprising and colorful range of products are on display: a salt and pepper shaker inspired by a simple knob, a music box turned with the hook of an overcoat, and an electric guitar built around an old saddle frame.
Parenty explained that artists are invited by the Vireiu to spend time surrounded by the materials, and then create a design for a new product.
“The reverse creation,” she explained.
In a large room aptly named the Alibaba Room, De Virieu pulled a silk scarf from the pile to show Alfonsi an almost imperceptible defect and outlined it with his finger.
“That part will no longer be used, so we are going to shorten it… but we are going to keep that. And that is the starting point of something new,” he told Alfonsi.
On the first floor of the workshop, craftsmen were working on the creatives’ designs and turning them into reality.
“You see these craftsmen and they’re all chipping away, trying to figure out the frame of a mirror from little pieces of broken porcelain,” Karzis said.
The last stop on the tour was the ‘nursery’, where finished products are stored before being shipped to Hermès stores and customers.
De Virieu showed Alfonsi a stool decorated with brightly colored mushrooms, a stirrup-inspired indoor swing and a shopping cart with a handbag cut in half, none other than the highly sought-after Birkin from Hermès.
De Virieu excitedly showed them one last item: a fully functional indoor hammock made from Hermès silk scarves.
“That’s really the story of Petit H,” de Vireiu said.
“[Look] to take a piece of material and find a new way to use it… it’s perfect.”
The video above was produced by Will Croxton. It was edited by Sarah Shafer Prediger and Scott Rosann.
