Who are the founders and what was their vision?

Paris, 1949. Desmond Knox-Leet, a painter trained at the Beaux-Arts and heir to a British aristocratic family, and Christiane Montadre-Gautrot, an interior architect from the Decorative Arts, formed a mirrored friendship: one, an accomplished artist; the other, passionate about craftsmanship. Nourished by sensory memories, such as Desmond's summers in the South of France and Christiane's childhood garden near Fontainebleau, they designed furnishing fabric models sold at Liberty and Sanderson. Ten years later, decorator and administrator Yves Coueslant, raised in Indochina, joined the duo. Between Yves, Desmond and Christiane, the connection was immediate: three free spirits, the same creative desire and the ambition to found their own Maison. 

Learn more about the history of Diptyque here.