Jean-Louis Dumas-Hermes is the fifth generation Chairman of Hermes, the family-owned business which celebrated its 150th anniversary in 1987, having grown from a wholesale harness-making concern into one of France's most prestigious luxury craft firms with over 200 outlets worldwide. As previous President of the Comite Colbert, he is also the spokesman for the council representing the most famous names in French luxury goods. VIVE met with Mons. Dumas in his office above Hermes flagship store on the prestigious Rue Fauborg Saint Honore in Paris.

VIVE: Please tell us a little about your background. How did being born into the Hermes family influence your early life and your career decisions?

DUMAS: There is not much to tell. I was the fourth of six children. What can a tree say about being in a forest? As far as the water and sun that influenced the young plant I was, to continue the botanical comparison, these elements were really left entirely to me.

I was born just before the war and my father was an officer who escaped from a prison camp. We left for the South of France which the Germans did not occupy until '43 and then we went back to Paris. Life was very difficult until I was about eight, so I was one of the generation who can remember the first chocolate I ate and the first English-speaking person I met. I remember a Paris which was under total control and so when the conditions improved, it was like being released from inside a cell.

I always dreamt of the big world and in fact close to our house was the Museum of Mankind and it was a kind of magic treasure chest in which you could find all the colours and scents and music of the world.