Atelier Martine

Atelier Martine, which opened on April 1, 1911, was an interior design business owned and operated by Paul Poiret, a noted Parisian couturier. Poiret also ran a school – École Martine – housed in Poiret’s premises in rue d’Antin. École Martine was an experimental art school for young, working-class girls. Under the direction of design educator Marguerite Gabriel-Claude Sérusier, these untrained girls sketched plants and animals in local parks and zoos. Poiret bought the best of their drawings and these were adapted and used by Atelier Martine, the design studio. The studio also made deep pile carpets which were hand-knotted by the students. The shop was located at 107, rue du Faubourg Saint Honoré when these sketches were made inside the studio. By the early 1920s, Atelier Martine had branches in Marseilles, Cannes, Biarritz, Deauville, La Baule, as well as in London and Vienna. Martine products were actively promoted and sold in department stores in America and Germany.