DESIGN JOURNEY
RARE TEXTILES & GIFTED CRAFTSMANSHIP
Formehri Vicuña can be harvested only once every three years from the Altiplanos of South America before being spun into thread in Italy and proudly conceived, designed, and made at our home in Monaco, on the French Riviera.
Vicuña. It all begins in the high Andean planes of South America.
A historical and mythic animal cherished by Incan royalty for millennia and nearly hunted to extinction by the 1960s, the Vicuña is a regal camelid producing the world’s finest woollen textile fibre. Through careful conservation, now, with slowly increasing numbers, they live under internationally protected status as an endangered species in the Andean highlands of Peru and Bolivia and in smaller numbers in Chile and Argentina. Hand-sheared by small communities who live in the high plains, vicuña yarns allow Formehri to produce garments of extraordinary softness, warmth, and grace.
In a moment the ashes are made, but a forest is a long time growing.
SENECA
PATIENCE & TIME
Our modern world insists on a collective rushing to arrive at the next location or to beat our neighbours to some imagined and frequently hollow finish line, with little time or reflection given to creating something which matters, regardless of how long it may take.
Formehri operates under a philosophy in which patience and time are essential elements of our daily lives and creative process. We are governed by the seasons, waiting for every third Spring before each ghostlike, wild Vicuña has grown enough fleece to be shorn. This process, completed entirely by hand with manual shears, takes a great deal of time, but it is essential in ensuring the Vicuña remains wild, protected, and healthy.
From golden fleece to fine fabric, our craftsmen and women, who possess increasingly rare and highly specialized skills, require patience and several hours to hand-link each piece of our collection in the small Principality of Monaco. At times, this means that both of us at Formehri and our customers must wait for a product to be made, but this is the nature of things that require significant commitment and care.
To attempt to rush a step in the process would be to go against the soul and philosophy of everything we are. It is the journey that matters most. At Formehri, living up to our values of creating rare and beautiful objects, regardless of how long it takes, is as fundamental as breathing.
For these most remarkable pleasures in life, it is best to wait.
What is this magical fibre?
Far finer, lighter, and softer than cashmere, Vicuña’s rare properties come from the minute scales on the hollow, air-filled fibres that cause them to interlock and trap insulating air. These air-light tubular fibres are remarkably fine at a diameter of 12 microns. Sensitive to chemical treatment, the wool is often left in its iconic and natural golden rust-coloured state. However, with expert knowledge and care, it can be dyed into a small range of additional colours.
To wear a Formehri sweater, to warm your neck with a scarf, or disappear into our iconic shawl collar cardigan is to experience truly the world’s finest and rarest pieces of knitwear.
DESIGN
- TIMELESS
- DESIGN FOR
- TIMELESS SOULS
Fashion is fleeting. Style is eternal. Influenced by the sophisticated and understated style of our home on the French Riviera, Formehri designs are as timeless as our customers who wear them.
Our silhouettes are cut to harmonize timeless style with a slimmer, contemporary aesthetic, designed to be ageless and ready to be handed down to the next generation when the time comes. On request and time permitting, we also offer an in-person, made-to-measure service for customers seeking an even more personalized fit.
PREPARED FOR YOU
Once you choose your piece from our collection, it is prepared with your name on the collar tag and carefully packaged in its custom wood box, made in Bordeaux, France, from sustainably sourced French timber and shipped worldwide, directly to your door.