Maison Jansen Lecture Notes, Part I

I was lucky enough to attend the House Beautiful (not the magazine) Lecture at Evergreen, given by curator James Archer Abbott, author of Maison Jansen and Jansen Furniture. He's a delightful man, as I've said before and his lecture was witty and entertaining. I will share some of the stories he told us, with you all in my next post. First, here's some history.

Maison Jansen (MJ) was one of the first global companies, having been founded in Paris in the 1880's and then opening branches in Buenos Aires (1905), New York, Cairo, Havana (1920s), and Rome in the 1930s. Jean-Henri Jansen created interior design in France. He and his designers were the social equals of their clients, much like to day. His shop at 9 Rue Royale was lit with electric lamps and had huge plate glass windows. He redefined French design by reaching into the past.

By the 1930s, their workshops employed more than 700 people creating ironworks, textiles, and boiserie in the various locations. In fact, their boiserie was so well-done, that experts had a hard time telling whether it was newly made or original.

During WWII, MJ's history was sad. Within hours of Paris falling, the German generals were at MJ's door, demanding their wares. The staff said they couldn't give them to the Germans because they were being worked on. For the next four years, they stripped and refinished, re-upholstered and redid the furniture over and over again. Many staffers were Jewish and were put in camps in Germany. That story did not end well.
Among MJ's clients were the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Nancy Lancaster and Ronald Tree, Jacqueline and John F. Kennedy, William and Babe Paley, Harry Winston, Coco Chanel, Leopold, King of the Belgiums, and many others. In the red book, there are chapters about many of these residences. MJ worked for one client, Lady Baillie, for more than 40 years at her homes in Maidstone, Kent and on Hog Island in the Bahamas.

Even though the Duchess of Windsor is from Baltimore, many people do not think highly of her. Mr. Abbott said that she basically bartered with MJ to get them to do her work, something that wasn't too surprising. Each new client she introduced to MJ, garnered her a design credit so she could redecorate her house in Paris.

Stay tuned for more Lecture notes in the next day or so...