Secret Studio: Hermès has a bespoke service called Le Sur Mesure

Axel de Beaufort helms Hermès Le Sur-Mesure division – the specialist Paris-based workshop dedicated to creating extraordinary made-to-measure objects and interiors.

In the world of retail, customisation has become a matter of course. For example, you can have your initials added to pretty much anything these days, embroidered on a jacket pocket or printed on a jar of Marmite. It’s certainly a fun way to ennoble everyday items, but it makes the quest for ‘the unique’ seem contrived. At worse, ubiquitous customisation dilutes the very notion of originality. It’s a complex riddle to say the least, and it gets even more tangled.

Having a luxury object made-to-measure was once the chic and stealthy way to project one’s personal taste. Today, things have changed. The logo reigns supreme, which means that ‘one-off ’ bespoke designs can be deceptively ‘personal’: all too often, they are less a meaningful expression of a client’s sensibility than a marketing tool used to promote a brand’s own interests.

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Of course, bespoke luxury can also be brash and ostentatious, but that would never happen at Hermès, a brand that has always whispered style and elegance through exquisite design and the savoir faire of its craftspeople, which in turn softly captures the notion of cultural refinement and a dash of whimsy. But how has Hermès continued to excel at this custom-fit artistry?

When an object is made-to-measure at Hermès, it’s the story behind the design stipulations that matters. Aristotle was a big believer in the inward significance of things, but it’s more fun to look at recent examples of how a bespoke treasures have given us time to pause, reflect and smile.

Actors and actresses of Hollywood’s Golden Age had a predilection for one- of-a-kind luxuries that were true extensions of their colourful personalities: Audrey Hepburn stirred her cocktails with a personalised Cartier swizzle stick; Mae West liked to hold interviews from her golden swan bed; and Bob Hope would zip around golf courses in a quirky custom- built cart designed to look like the legendary comedian himself, complete with ski-slope nose and prominent chin.

Eccentric though they may be, these are defining examples of what a ‘one-off ’ luxury object should stand for: fashioned from the finest materials by specialist hands, and tailor-made to reflect a sense of uniqueness – be it that of the client, the maker, or just for art’s sake.

If there’s one person who’d like to shout this idea from the rooftops, it’s Axel de Beaufort, design and engineering director of Hermès’ special projects division, known as Le Sur-Mesure. In this exclusive Hermès workshop, situated in Pantin, just north of central Paris,de Beaufort and his team of craftspeople bring to life exceptional objects that honour the French maison’s enduring style and finesse.

The fruits of their labour are considerably more refined and low-key than a cartoonish golf cart, but playfulness prevails in this private and underreported studio.

“We are about craftsmanship and exploring the unexpected; never a show of wealth,” says de Beaufort. “Functionality is the most important thing, but fantasy is important, too. An Hermès piece is made to accompany you through life.” And when it comes to creativity, the sky’s the limit for de Beaufort and his team: he has designed the interiors of private planes and superyachts, one- of-a-kind bicycles and boxing gloves, skateboards and roller skates, and even an Hermès rickshaw, which now resides in at the Four Seasons Hotel in Kyoto.

The elegant passenger cart was one of the Frenchman’s most challenging projects to date. “In Japan, design is very precise. The creative process required some intelligent thought in order to produce Hermès’ answer to such a traditional object.”

The result is a majestic-looking wicker seat on two wheels, clad in caramel-coloured leather with a matching canopy and leather- bound attachment bars. Simple, but noble in appearance.As proved by the rickshaw, de Beaufort is opposed to the idea of appropriating existing forms and restyling them to suit the Hermès aesthetic. Under his watch, designs must be conceived from scratch, re-engineered in order “to understand the complexities and uses of an object”.

Speaking to de Beaufort, it’s easy to see why Hermès, a paradigm of luxury renowned for its commitment to timeless design, is such a perfect fit for his no- holds-barred creative attitude. “Whether it’s a bag or the inside of a car, we always try to create a sense of something personal, and that is the most challenging thing: to create a story behind an object,” says de Beaufort. “If an object engenders an emotional response, that object is an achievement.”

The designer’s own story starts at sea: a keen sailor since he was a young boy, de Beaufort decided to build his own vessels, graduating with a degree in design and naval architecture from Southampton University. In 2002, he established his own yacht design company, Nacira Design, and won contract after contract from those seeking elegantly constructed and ingeniously detailed leisure boats.

His work caught the attention of Hermès’ artistic director, Pierre-Alexis Dumas, when de Beaufort scooped the Nautical Design Award in Milan in 2012. “The first project I designed for the house was an Hermès bicycle,” explains the designer. “Although my background is in nautical architecture, I have always had smaller projects on the go, designing travel bags and interesting objects, so it was a smooth transition.”

De Beaufort was initially contracted for a single project, but Dumas thought better, deciding he was the man to expand Le Sur-Mesure, a division that has been in existence since Hermès was founded in 1837 as a harness-making workshop for the carriage trade, catering to noblemen and royalty.

Among his more surreal creations is an apple bag – not the techie kind, but one shaped like the fruit, molded in crisp green lambskin leather, which opens up to reveal a gleaming silver shell, cast in stainless Palladium. “A client wanted to buy a present for his friend who eats an apple a day,” explains de Beaufort. “I think he was expecting a simple bag, but it was more interesting to make it both functional and fantaisiste. Sometimes we make things that you won’t find in other areas of the house. Sometimes unexpected things.”

De Beaufort also recently designed an Hermès foosball table, which garnered such interest in store that the maison commissioned 25 of them. Priced at over £55,000 and built from maple wood lined with butter-soft racing green leather, the games table isn’t exactly suited to your average ‘man cave’; but it is built for play not display, despite the sheer amount of craftsmanship that has been poured into its creation.

To get the players exactly right – they are jockeys, not soccer players, in line with Hermès’ equestrian past – de Beaufort enlisted the help of a well-known French sculptor. “You won’t find [the tables] in every boutique,” explains de Beaufort, “but you can ask any store to make you one as a special order.”

The team is currently working on a couple of hundred bespoke handbags, and, in terms of special projects, de Beaufort is busy refurbishing two vintage cars from the 1930s.

Creativity at Hermès’ Pantin studio is very much about variety: as well as boutique commissions, large scale private projects and unique window display items, de Beaufort often experiments with new shapes and concepts.

“Sometimes we create some little capsule collections,” he says. “The idea is to ask [the managers] at every Hermès store worldwide what they would love to sell in their boutique that is not already in the collection. Then we pick up a few of those ideas and realise them. It brings a freshness to what we do.”

The best part, from a consumer perspective at least, must be the testing process. “We always try everything that we do; in my department and in every other at Hermès. I designed the [Hermès] surfboard with a friend of mine who is a well-known surfer. I’m big on surfing, too, and we took three rounds of design to get it right... This is what I love about this house: the goal is to make things that are long-lasting and practical.”

It sounds as if, in his Hermès factory of dreams, Axel de Beaufort is riding the crest of a perpetual wave.