André Groult began designing in 1908, when he was just 24 years old and Art Deco fashion was in full swing. In 1910, he opened his first antique and curiosities shop in Paris. A year later, he exhibited as a decorator at the Salon d’Automne, where his designs proved a huge success. Initially, he lived on Rue d’Anjou, but soon after he moved to the elegant Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré; his apartment there soon appeared in the Revue des arts décoratifs.
On the first floor of Groult’s shop, his wife Nicole, a fashion designer, exhibited her wares. She was the sister of fashion designer Paul Poiret, a contemporary of Madeleine Vionnet and disciple of Jacques Doucet. Poiret dressed stars of the day such as Réjane and Sarah Bernhardt, and was the first to free women from the restrictions of the corset. Inspired by the Ballets Russes, he also invented extravagant Oriental costumes with the artist/designer Erté, counted the author Colette among his clients, and holidayed in Biarritz with a close circle in the golden, carefree haze of the prewar era.
Riding the wave, Groult created carpets, textiles and wallpapers block-printed by Alfred Hanz, using a technique dating back to the 18th century. He designed striking furniture, including a famous shagreen ‘anthropomorphic’ sideboard and chairs in embellished vermilion lacquer and gold. He also decorated apartments across Paris, gradually revealing himself as a designer who danced to his own music.
Twenty years later, André Mauny met Robert Caillard at Jansen and in 1933 the duo opened a wallpaper house specialising in woodblock prints. Mauny specialised in 18th-century designs, which he patiently tracked down, collected or bought from customers. He came to realise that he should open himself up to the present rather than dwell exclusively in the past, however, and so bought 62 patterns from Groult, whom he asked to continue designing for him. He also reached out to a number of artists, including Marie Laurencin and Jean-Emile Laboureur, to the same end.
Mauny’s heyday was the 1940s, when he decorated French president Vincent Auriol’s plane, several transatlantic steamers, numerous apartments in New York and even the extravagant private train of the emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie.
In 1998, the house he founded was bought by Zuber, a company known for its panoramic wallpaper, some of which were chosen by Jacqueline Kennedy for the White House and still hang there. Today, Pierre Frey, which in turn purchased Zuber, continues to respect these exceptional collections, which are still woodblock-printed in the town of Rixheim in Alsace.
Groult’s papers, always light and poetic, feature designs typical of the 1930s but never assert his Art Deco convictions too forcefully. Exotic birds, ribbons, flowers and starfish meet with monkeys, mandarins rub shoulders with nymphs.
Woodblock printing, so slow and complex, and in many ways completely anachronistic today, turns these wallpapers into a thick and lively material – unlike far cheaper digital production techniques, which allow for more colour but make the décor much flatter and less sensual. Like a Persian tale recounted to music by Ravel or Satie, Groult’s wallpapers constitute a rare and little-known niche that one should take pains to discover.
For more André Groult designs, visit zuber.fr
A version of this article also appeared in the October 2024 issue of ‘The World of Interiors’. Learn about our subscription offers. Sign up for our bi-weekly newsletter, and be the first to receive exclusive stories like this one, direct to your inbox
