Under his austere appearance, André Groult was a lover of voluptuous curves and a refined colourist whose furniture became a stylistic reference of the Art Deco period.

Born in Paris in 1884, he married Nicole Poiret in 1907—the youngest sister of the couturier Paul Poiret and a fashion designer herself. With a scientific background, it was while arranging their apartment that he discovered his passion for decoration. He designed their chairs and furniture, as well as lighting fixtures, ceramics, glassware, and even door handles and patterns for draperies and wallpapers. His work found considerable success among clients seeking a renewed sense of modernity.

Thus began his career as a decorator and ensemble designer.

In 1911, selected by the jury of the Salon d’Automne, he exhibited a “Petit Salon” featuring stylized rose decor, the symbol of his brand. Praised by critics for daring to use “Color”—absent from what was then considered “modern” decoration—he initiated “a turning point in decorative art.”

In search of new materials, he studied the technique of Chinese lacquer and took an interest in ray skin, which he imported from Hong Kong to cover his furniture with what is known as “shagreen.” He also explored straw marquetry for wall panels, screens, trays, and other everyday objects.

In 1925, the Groult style received its crowning recognition.

At the International Exposition of Decorative Arts, themed “The Decoration of a French Embassy Abroad,” the committee assigned him “The Ambassadress’s Bedroom.” For this, he created “a precious ensemble of curved furniture and seats, without visible constructions, sheathed in full natural-coloured shagreen skins,” according to his own words.

On the eve of the war, he set up his workshop on Faubourg Saint-Honoré to devote himself to straw marquetry until his passing in 1966.

Today, André Groult’s creations have found their place among discerning collectors. Others, including the famous Anthropomorphic Chiffonnier of 1925, are part of the Permanent Collection of the Museum of Decorative Arts in Paris. While his descendants are preparing to revive his works—already perpetuated through the Ateliers Lison de Caunes, one of his granddaughters—his art of straw marquetry continues to thrive.