Your private jet can now be given the ultimate luxurious customisation with Hermès for a ride like no other. A discrete studio in the Paris suburb of Pantin, Sur-Mesure atelier at Hermès, produces bespoke orders to manifest the wildest luxury fantasy into an exquisite reality.
Inside past a locked metal gate, several security guards and a pair of key-card doors, over a dozen elite artisans work quietly at messy desks covered with swatches of pebbled leather. Their skills are so highly sought after that photographs of their faces are strictly forbidden as well as the publication of their names.
The design director for the brand’s custom-made projects, Axel de Beaufort, listed a myriad of alternative projects the company can complete, including $44, 000 boxing gloves and a $14,700 picnic basket. These of which is nothing in comparison to the interior of a $66 million Gulfstream G650 private jet, a rare Aston Martin or a 12-meter boat Rocobar.
Other items that can be imbued with Hermès’ sense of luxury include watches, jewellery surfboards, fishing rods, skateboard decks, anvils, foosball tables, saxophones; almost anything that can be conjured up by the mind. “We’re not just a manufacturer; we’re a house of ideas.”
If you’re looking for heavy branding however, this is not the place for you. Hermès accentuates that the workshop is not about ostentation. They design the item so that only the client would know that it’s Hermès. Another non-negotiable request is no ‘mixing and matching’ from various Hermès products.
The atelier operates by designing from the client’s intention of the product and their proposed use. Hermès will reject requests that fail to reflect their brand values.
“Here, you’re in a house of craftsmanship,” de Beaufort discloses. “So of course the brand is a part of what you will get, but it’s not just to show that you have an Hermès product. You come here because you want something made by hand in France and made to measure for you.”
Despite the wide range of products offered, the process remains the same for each luxury item. The workshop provides a financial estimate after a month and an artistic proposal approximately two months later. When Hermès quotes a price, there is no opportunity for negotiation.
One of the Sur-Mesure atelier’s most notorious projects was a small leather case a man wanted for his wife to carry her daily apple in. For such smaller commissions, the atelier operates similarly to all other Hermès workshops. One craftsperson controls the creation of a project from the commencement to its completion.
Conversely, for larger projects, the team is highly collaborative. The appointed in-house engineers and team members could be working on a project for several months.
Hermès has customised products since its founding in 1937, with its first commissions being bespoke equestrian harnesses. Sur-Mesure aimed to take that concept one step further since its opening in 2009. The division was rapidly able to encapsulate an audience beyond Hermès clients.
The high price tags, however, do not deter Hermès clients from returning. De Beaufort estimates that his Sur-Mesure atelier completes approximately 300 projects annually, with the majority of its commissions being leather goods.
Sur-Mesure atelier can make any opulent design fantasy come into fruition. The only limit is the depth of your imagination and liquidity.
By Sian McCaffery