Over time, everything at Hermès changes – every mechanism, shape, type of attachment, suspension or clasp, initially conceived to equip a saddle or harness, is transmitted and transformed, playing a part in the design of a whole new object – because lifestyles evolve, and with them the desires and needs of its customers.
For Harnessing the Roots, Bruno Gaudichon, curator of La Piscine Museum of Art and Industry, and of Harnessing the Roots, and Laurence Fontaine, the scenographer, decided to arrange the objects showcased by way of a thematic narrative, in order to reveal the links and dialogue that have always existed between the objects.
The five themes are: Brides de Gala, The Horse and its Tack, The Saddle, Buckled Up and Ties and Straps.
All of the creations highlighted in the exhibition come from three distinct sources. The first is the Émile Hermès collection – a collection of treasures and small curiosities, located at the Hermès flagship at 24, rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honoré in Paris, that Émile Hermès built up throughout his life. The second source is the house’s Conservatory of Creations, and the third and final source is the contemporary fashion, lifestyle and accessories collections.
These objects are complemented by documentary archives and a film from 1962 in which Robert Dumas, heir and director of Hermès from 1951 to 1978, explains the art of saddle-making. It is this intertwining of materials, stories and techniques that reveals the fantasy and magic of Hermès.
