Earlier we had the pleasure of taking a quick little journey to heaven at the Hérmes Festival des Métiers exhibition on display now at the Design Exchange. Making two stops in London at the Saatchi Gallery and in Dusseldorf at the Halle am Wasserturm before landing in Toronto, this cultural exhibition centers on the French fashion house’s longstanding traditions and values instilled into every minute detail of their fine designs. Translating into Festival of Crafts, the exhibition takes you through years of in-depth (and hands on) visionary techniques we have come to covet from the brand.
What makes this exhibit so unique is the behind-the-scenes look at the actual craftsmen and women who construct the collection each day that have travelled with all their tools to provide the interactive installations curated throughout the space. Translators stand at the side of each station ready and waiting to communicate any question you might have to the artisan while they work on small elements of their job. Weather it be painting the seal along the side of a leather toggle for a Birkin bag, shaping part of a saddle, hand silk screening a soon to be iconic scarf, piecing together a timepiece, affixing one of a hundred tiny diamonds to a piece of jewelry under a microscope, or sketching out a textile by hand, Festival des Métiers aims to educate us on how Hérmes has really perfected their techniques since 1837.
To top it all off, Festival des Métiers, unlike other exhibitions at the Design Exchange, is totally free and open to the public today until Saturday at 7pm.
Take a look through some of our photos of the exhibition below and take a hour to check out the exhibition now before its over!
