Decorative Limoges porcelain plate by Simone Coquet for Primavera

PRIMAVERA: Art Studio of Le Printemps Department Store

In order to develop modern decorative arts and promote their dissemination, René Guilleré, founder of the Société des artistes décorateurs, convinced the Printemps department store as early as 1912 to commission sets of furniture and objets d’art from artisanal workshops. Designed under the direction of prominent artists such as Charlotte Chauchet, Guilleré’s wife, their collection was named “Primavera”—a name whose Latin etymology cleverly echoes that of the department store. After World War I, other department stores followed the Printemps’s example. Maurice Dufrêne was thus appointed to head the “Maîtrise” workshops at Galeries Lafayette in 1922, and Paul Follot was hired by Le Bon Marché to lead “Pomone” the following year. The Louvre department stores, for their part, turned to Kohlmann for their “Studium.”