Thierry Hermès

Born in Krefeld in 1801 to a French father and German mother, Thierry Hermès moved to Normandy as a young man to learn harness-making before relocating to Paris in 1837, where he opened a workshop on the Grands Boulevards specialising in harnesses and bridles for the carriage trade. He built the business around the saddle stitch — a hand-finished, two-needle technique still used by the house today — and won recognition at the 1867 Universal Exhibition. His son Charles-Émile and grandson Émile-Maurice extended the leathergoods business into saddlery, then luggage and bags, eventually evolving the workshop into the global luxury maison of Hermès. Thierry died in Neuilly-sur-Seine in 1878.