Pierre Hermé
Pierre Hermé | Paris, France
October 2019
Heir to four generations of Alsatian baking and pastry tradition, Pierre Hermé didn’t only carry on the family trade, he blasted it into the stratosphere. Starting his career at 14 as an apprentice to Gaston Lenôtre, Hermé rapidly ascended into the realm of haute pâtisserie by the age of 20.
In a short span, he went from the pâtissier at high-end Parisian mega-market Fauchon to building a pâtisserie empire. In 1996, he founded Pierre Hermé Paris with business partner Charles Znaty, and the duo began putting the Hermé imprint on farther reaches of the globe. Their inaugural boutique, Maison Pierre Hermé Paris, debuted in Tokyo in 1998, followed by his first storefront in Paris three years later. His now iconic pastry shop sets the standard for rediscovered creations, technical perfection, and modern flavor profiles.
With 55 storefronts in 13 countries including Qatar, Saudia Arabia, Macau, and Morocco, Hermé continues to evolve and innovate around the globe. In the United States, the only locations where you can purchase his macarons are inside the Delta Sky Club in New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport and at restaurant L’Avenue on the 8th floor of the namesake New York location of Saks Fifth Avenue. The “Picasso of Pâtisserie” was named “The World’s Best Pastry Chef” by San Pellegrino’s “50 Best” organization, and Vanity Fair counted him the fourth most influential French person in the world.
