Floral Textile & Wallpaper

Flowers : an essential motif in the history of art and decorative arts

The floral motif is an essential element in the history of art and decorative arts.
In the Middle Ages, floral motifs were appreciated for their decorative qualities in illumination but also for their symbolism. Little by little, the flowers will be represented for themselves until their painting becomes a style in its own right, at the end of the 16th century, under the name of still life.
It was in the 17th century, under the reign of Louis XIV, that a census of the varieties of flowers of the royal gardens has been done making it possible to apply the listed motifs to the decorative arts.
These drawings initiated by Gaston d'Orléans and transmitted to le Roi Soleil form what we call "the king's vellums". Redouté, Pillement among others, will use this precise collection to expand their formal and aesthetic vocabulary and allow the 18th century to shine in the representation of the flower in painting and in decorative arts.
In our workshops, it is also in the local pictorial tradition that we find an inexhaustible source of inspiration. The Lyon School of Flowers and its designs for historic silk manufacturers live on through our work.