Threaded mustard exhibit (Kelly) bags senator
Recent weather has been drippy and cool. The days are, purportedly, long, but the clouds are dense and thick. It is rumored that things will look better in the coming week.
We have been having fun. A friend of Nazy’s told us about a Zürich event that...
“We must see!” Nazy exclaimed.
“I know,” I replied. “The new Apple MacBook Pro is being unveiled. It’s thinner, faster and has the ‘awesome’ retina display. There is no spinning disk, it has solid state...”
“I’m talking about hand craftsmanship, Dan.”
“You mean like, eh, ‘art’?” I replied, about to nod off.
“I’m talking about Hermes, Dan. The exhibition includes demonstrations of people hand-making Hermes products.”
“Are they selling anything?” I asked anxiously. “I wanted to get a Hermes ‘Kelly Bag’ for Naz a few birthdays ago,” I thought. “They told me it would cost 13,000 Francs and would be delivered in 10 months.”
“Did you know that human gestation takes less time than is required to make a Kelly Bag?”
“Dan..”
“And that delivering a baby is cheaper than buying a Kelly bag?”
“Delivery may be cheaper, but over the full lifetime, a baby will be much more expen$ive. But don’t worry, this is only an exhibition. There is nothing for sale.”
“And you still want to go?” I was astonished.
“I want to see how they make the Kelly Bag.”
“Slowly, They make it slowly,” I replied - knowingly.
We took the tram to Sihlstrasse. The “Festival” had people hand making the major Hermes ‘stuff’: gloves, painted porcelain, ties, ‘Kelly Bags’, silk scarfs and even saddles.
Nazy was particularly interested in ...
“Everything, Dan!”
We started by watching someone finish up a Kelly Bag. (The final steps take about 40 hours. It was, of course, not possible for the entire process to be on exhibition. However, it still seemed like:
“A long time, my dear,” I whispered as the leatherworker adjusted the handle.
“It’s not long, Dan.”
“We’ve been standing here for an hour, Nazy. My back hurts.”
“Prince Phillip stood for six hours in the rain at the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. He didn’t complain.”
“And the next day he was in the hospital with a urinary infection.”
“Watch and learn, Dan.”
I decided to look for colorful items that might look good in a photo. I found thread:
After the bag construction, we watched someone print silk scarfs - 15 different colors, pressed through stencils one at a time. We watched a lady fold and sew a tie. We saw a glove maker stretch his leather. We observed the scintillating excitement of a paintress dabbing gilt on crystal.
“You’re not making it sound exciting, Dan.” Nazy interjects.
“If I wanted to make it sound boring, I would have said that we watched the gilt dry on the crystal. Besides, I haven’t mentioned the movie - which was in French.”
“With German subtitles..”
“My point. Exactly.” I reply.
In truth (some people think that I twist the facts to meet narrative needs), the exhibition was extremely interesting. All of the items are hand-crafted. The people who do the work are artists. I had a good time - and I was not subsequently troubled by a urinary infection.
This weekend we will be farther afield: We’re driving to Dijon, France. I can’t wait to see the Musee de la Moutarde. (I’m not making this up.) We’re driving because..
“.. Dijon is very close, Dan. It’s on a straight line between Zurich and Basel.”
“So is Thule, Greenland,” I thought. “How far straight?” I asked.
“I’ll let you worry about those details, Dan.”
According to Google, we’ll be about ¼ of the way when we get to Basel. On the other hand, the highway speeds in France are higher than in Switzerland - and the roads are not festooned with automatic cameras to trap speeders. We will zoom through the French countryside. I asked Nazy what we wanted to see in Dijon.
“It’s a beautiful, old city..”
“ ... so is Zurich.”
“ ... with lots of churches..”
“ ... like Zurich.”
“but we will miss the Gastronomic Fair. That takes place in autumn.”
“Gasp. I’m sure we will still be able to eat,” I continued - sounding like my father.
A final note - on banking. I watched Jamie Dimon’s testimony on Capitol Hill. Questions from some Senators were embarrassing: Consider something along the lines of:
“Since we can’t even balance the budget, I don’t know why asking about your bank...”
“Really?” I thought. “Balancing the budget would been easier if the 8,000,000 people who lost their jobs in the deep recession were still working and paying taxes. Oh! Didn’t financial services have something to do with that recession? And didn’t the government pay a lot to keep those companies in business? ”
