Pont-Audemer

"Turning towards the future, eager to perfect his leather crafting techniques, Thierry decides to settle in Pont-Audemer, a peaceful small township in the province with only 5,300 inhabitants. This very private man knows how to weigh the pros and cons. He is aware that, even though he is already a skilled saddler, he will always need to progress. The choice of Pont-Audemer is not random. At the end of the 1820s, Thierry Hermès leaves one capital for another. 150 kilometers from Paris, at the end of a two-day journey, awaits the 'capital' of leather."

"In 1829, the small town welcomes not a tourist, but a saddler-cum-harness-maker who came for specifically professional reasons, hoping to perfect his knowledge, so to speak, in the techniques of leather work. Indeed, Pont-Audemer, crossed by the Risle and secondary canals, enjoys a reputation for the importance and quality of its tanneries and leather factories which date back to the 17th century, a time when tanners and curriers were the suppliers of Louis XIV's armies."