Hermès : handbags, scarves... and helicopters !

• Corinne POUX-BERNARD
  Director of innovation, Hermès
  
• Gabriele PEZZINI
  Director of design, Hermès
  

Summary

What do a leather handbag, a silk scarf and a helicopter have in common ? The surprising answer is Hermès. However, how did Hermès come to sign an agreement with Eurocopter ? One only has to delve into the history of Hermès to discover why this project is not as incongruous as it might seem. Hermès has always been interested in transport, having manufactured saddles, harnesses and travelling trunks, and designed the interiors of cars in the 1930s. So why not a helicopter ? Nevertheless, the business relationship between an important industrial group and a family-run business is not that straightforward, especially because the project management was entrusted to a designer, not the kind of person with whom an aeronautical engineer normally deals. However, common ground was found between these seemingly disparate functions in an attempt to find an extremely functional object. Also, looking at the industrial process through a new pair of eyes - those of a designer - helped the project to move forward.

Summary translated from French by Rachel MARLIN.

• The entire article was written by Sophie JACOLIN and translated by Rachel MARLIN.

To obtain this article, you can :

• download it for free in French (PDF help) or contact ecopar@paris.ensmp.fr (Reference CR310309).
• download it for free in English (PDF help) or contact ecopar@paris.ensmp.fr (Reference CR310309-ENG).

The entire article appears in French in the Journal de l'École de Paris du management N° 79.