Thierry Hermès
Strategic Concepts & Mechanics
Primary Evidence
"A Latin phrase teaches us that "Words fly away, writings remain". Thus, the original document of Thierry Hermès' birth certificate is carefully preserved in the municipal archives of Krefeld. But a birth certificate can unfortunately also be a source of misunderstandings, a real linguistic trap for anyone interested in the history of the Hermes/ Hermès family. Unaware of primary sources, one might well imagine that the ancestors of Thierry Hermès were French, but this is not the case since extensive research on this family has revealed a specifically German lineage, the surname Hermes being quite common in the entire region of Krefeld and this since the 17th century. The result? It is frequently asserted, without providing the slightest proof, that Thierry Hermès not only had French ancestors, but also that they were Huguenots, French Protestants who took refuge in Germany after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 by Louis XIV, which gives an aura to a young Prussian saddler who emigrated to France in 1821."
"In 1821, the year of Napoleon's death on Saint Helena and the year of Louis Vuitton's birth in Anchay in the Jura, who like Thierry Hermès, will set out to "conquer" Paris, the latter permanently leaves Krefeld. In 1898-1900, during a business trip to Saint Petersburg, at the court of Tsar Nicholas II, Thierry's grandson, Émile-Maurice, will stop in Krefeld to meet a relative."
"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."
"On May 6, 1889, eleven years after the death of Thierry Hermès, at the Universal Exhibition in Paris, German engineer Gottlieb Daimler, presented the first vehicle. A sensation! In 1851, the population had access to telegraphy, invented as early as 1792 by Claude Chappe, but until then reserved for the army."
"Thierry Hermès's classmates called him Dietrich or Diederich. Like all adolescents from a modest background, Thierry left school at the age of 13 or 14 to pursue an apprenticeship. He decided to become a saddler."