In a splendid old building that once housed a swimming pool on 17 rue de Sèvres in Paris, some (re)creations from the Hermès Petit H line are setting up shop after having made it around the world since 2010. The line has since June 5th established a permanent point of sale in what was once the Lutetia pool. It’s like none other with its abundance of curious “unidentified poetic objects”, as Pascale Mussard puts it.
The story of Petit H is one worth telling. And, as in every tale, the spirit of family seems to be what drives it forward, just like childhood itself. Everything seems to have taken off from a childhood game that started on the beaches of Normandy. At that age, Pascale Mussard and hier sister would go to their great uncle’s house, the father of Jean-Louis Dumas. He would set them off on search of the most beautiful of pebbles. Seeing beyond their negligible value, she didn’t hesitate to appropriate them. Ever since, the ordinary pebble became a treasure. In one interview, Pascale Mussard confided: “the one around my neck, my uncle put it on a pendant that had the same shape as the Etrivière belt buckle.” She still hasn’t parted ways with this symbol, like her childhood nickname, “don’t-throw-it-away, you-can-always-still-use-it”.
In 1978, the first person that would hire her was Nicole de Vésian, director of a creative bureau, who’s right hand man was none other than Christian Lacroix. At the time they knew nothing of her lineage. One day, Nicole de Vésian announced that she had signed them to a big fashion house, but she kept its identity a secret. The three left their office close to the Elysée Palace one morning, heading towards an unknown destination, until Nicole de Vésian slowed her step in front of 24 Faubourg Saint-Honoré. By pure chance, Jean-Louis Dumas’ niece, at that time director of Hermès, descendant of founder Thierry Hermès, ended up joining the family business.
Throughout the 80s, characterized by serial manufacture, Jean-Louis Dumas had already understood that artisanship represented aristocracy and that Hermès consequently must perpetuate its artisanal tradition. Thirty years later, Pascale Mussard once more brought the saddle back into her era. While the 21st century marked the advent of “zero defects”, she latched onto an upcoming trend. Just when environmentalism was becoming a must, she put recycling, or rather upcycling, on the agenda. The concept for Petit H was born from a strong will to make the brand’s creative minds cooperate, each one bringing their own knowledge in their respective domain to the table to create new objects out of previous failures and rejects. Loyal to her discretion, she took three years to bring together all the inspirations, ideas, and everything else that would make up THE piece. But before that, she had to convince each one to hand over the rights to their intellectual property.
The artisans strove towards Touaregs or Amazon techniques under Jean-Louis Dumas, but having them meet to dissect their tools and language was what motivated Pascale Mussard. In a special workshop dedicated to artistic creation and experimentation, without any time constraints, intensely colored leathers, zippers, buckles, fabrics each more noble than the last, leftover dishes and Saint-Louis crystals, silks delicate to the touch, were all transformed. The results came from virtually unconditioned children, or rather, childlike adults that dedicated their art to originality and the imaginary. A menagerie of buffalo, camels, fawns… A rocking horse, a chest, or a light fixture made of porcelain mugs… “It’s crazy the number of tricks giving birth to never-before-seen-creations when everyone talks to each other!” concludes Pascale Mussard.
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