CUISINER: To make colors according to recipes prescribed by our colorists, the artisans still largely work by hand. They use pots, blenders and precision scales (with everything measured out to the nearest milligram) to "cook up" mixtures of pigments and vegetable gums that simmer on stoves. And rather like a good sauce, we control everything to achieve the right viscosity and color.

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Welcome to the world of Hermès: In 1837 Thierry Hermes opened his workshop making the finest quality harnesses and saddles in the heart of Paris. Today Hermes is still a family company whose craftspeople make, often by hand and always with love , bags and belts, diaries and dishes, scarves and shoes, perfumes and purses, ties and travelling furniture, as well as gloves, hats, watches, jewellery and clothes.