Who are the founders and what was their vision?

Paris, 1949. The story begins. Desmond is a painter, a graduate of the École des Beaux-Arts, the Paris school of fine arts. Christiane is an interior architect, trained at the French national school of decorative arts, the Arts décoratifs. One is an accomplished artist; the other has a passion for craftsmanship. Each is the mirror image of the other. Their inevitable friendship is shaped by memories of Desmond’s summers in the South of France, and Christiane’s childhood garden on the fringes of Fontainebleau. With taste and discernment, they work together to create designs for upholstery fabrics sold at Liberty and Sanderson in London. A decade later, by a twist of fate, they cross paths with Yves Coueslant. This globe-trotting son of a banker raised in Indochina (present-day Vietnam) establishes an immediate rapport with Christiane and Desmond, himself heir to a British noble family. Together, they make an inseparable trio of friends. And from this encounter springs a creative ambition – the dream of founding their own Maison.

Learn more about the history of Diptyque here.