Maison E. Goyard, French luxury luggage maker

Goyard, the french luggage maker, Paris (France)

Francois Goyard, the son of Edme, was born the 8th September, 1828, at Clamecy in Bourgogne. He came from a family of « Companions of the river » which had exercised its talents for more than two centuries in this Venice of the Nivern.

Experts in the floating of wood from the forests of Morvan up to Paris, the Goyards built « trains » of wood made of rafts 75 meters long and 5 meters wide.

Each train, formed of two hundred logs, was driven by a « Companion » helped by a youth. When fifty to a hundred trains were ready, the departure for Paris could take place.

At twenty kilometers a day, it took eleven days to  navigate the Yonne and the Seine and arrive at the gates of Paris to deliver the wood to heat Parisian homes. The return to Clamecy was made on foot.

Edme Goyard was soon going to be forty years old. He dreamed of a better life and decided to move to Paris with his family.

François Goyard, Founding of the Maison Goyard, french luxury luggage maker

Passing in front of the window of the Maison Morel, a luggage and packing case maker, Edme Goyard was attracted by an offer of employment. His perfect mastery of wood impressed Monsieur Morel, who hired him immediately to make cases designed to protect personal effects during travelling.

The career was full of potential. Suitcases and travel articles were inevitably linked to the development of the railways. Edme Goyard passed on his savoir-faire to his oldest son, Francois, and then to Claude, Martin and Pierre.

In 1845, at seventeen, Francois followed in his father’s footsteps and became an apprentice at Morel. Having grown up on the banks of Clamecy and learned from his family how to build trains, he had great mastery of the different essences of wood.

Five years later, the Maison Morel bought the prestigious Maison Martin—luggage maker to the Duchess of Berry, the step daughter of King Charles X, mother of Henry V—making it the largest Maison in Paris. The Maison Morel quit the rue Therese and settled at 347 rue Saint Honore ( becoming 233 after a change in the numbering).

Herve Morel saw in Francois Goyard his successor. He suggested a partnership and rebaptised 233 rue Saint Honore « Goyard Morel, successor of Monsieur Morel, luggage maker ».

When Monieur Morel passed on in 1853, Francois bought his share of the business. The Maison Goyard Aine was born.

Edmond Goyard, new generation, new start for la maison Goyard, luxury luggage maker

On 11th October, 1853, Francois Goyard married Leopoldine Delaporte, a young couturier.

Thanks to the construction of the Chateau of the Tuileries a few meters from the rue Saint Honore, business was flourishing. The workshops were transferred to Bezon in the Val d‘Oise, close to the banks of the Seine. Edme Goyard took care of the supply and selection of wood. A special car shuttled between the workshop and the boutique several times a day to deal with the special orders.

On 11 August, 1860, Francois and Leopoldine Goyard had a son, Edmond, who grew up at 233 rue Saint Honore, between the apartment situated on the first floor and the boutique. He was soon joined by a little brother, Maurice.

At 25, Edmond took over from his father, while Maurice became a jeweller on the Place de la Madeleine. The Maison Goyard was rebaptised E.Goyard Aine. The initial E for Edmond paid homage also to the grandfather, Edme Goyard, who had died six years earlier.

The Goyard chevron pattern, From the development of the brand Goyard to the creation of the Goyard print, customized and personnalized luxury luggage

Biarritz, Monte Carlo, catalogue Wanamaker

Edmond Goyard did not hesitate to use all innovations to give the Maison Goyard a powerful and personal identity. Using the family knowledge of wood, he developed the famous resistant and waterproof canvas, which, from then on, covered the trunks.

Applied manually to this canvas, made of linen, cotton and hemp was a motif in the colors, diospyros, dalbergia, amarante and charme made from inks of crystal gum arabic.These four colors needed four successive applications. The motif represented three chevrons juxtaposed to form a Y, which evokes the Goyard name, but is also the universal symbol for a tree. The tree symbolises Man, as well as three centuries of the histrory of the Goyard family.

Becoming father to Marguerite Batilde (1889) then Robert Francois (1893), Edmond Goyard managed the destiny of Maison Goyard by himself after the death of his father.

He opened boutiques in Biarritz and Monte Carlo and in the John Wanamaker stores of New York and Philadelphia.

At the end of the 19th century, the mark «  Ne Ct » (for Notable Commercant) adorned the catalogues, bills, labels—a striking proof of the road travelled in a few years from Clamecy to the rue Saint-Honore.

The dedication of E. Goyard, From prizes to the affluence of a prestigious clientele.

Edmond Goyard decided to participate in the Universal and International Exposition of Paris in 1900, where he won the silver medal. In 1906 in Milan, he won the gold medal and in 1908 in the Franco-British Exhibition in London he again won the gold. He continued to win medals at the world fairs of Brussells, London, San Francisco….

The Maison Goyard became the favorite luggage-maker to the international set. Aristocratic families had their Goyard luggage marked with their coat of arms. Supplying the Royal Court in England, the President of the USA and the Emperor of Russia, Edmond Goyard also equipped the Maharajah of Kapurthala Jagatjeet Singh,  Sarah Bernhardt, Sacha Guitry, John Rockefeller, Cesar Ritz. Even Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes had a travel desk made.

During this exotic era, Goyard opened a department for “dogs, cats, monkeys,” and made harnesses, kennels, boots and even protective automobile glasses for these faithful companions of the great.

Robert Goyard, From the patent for the portable desk Goyard to the creation of the Committee Vendome

In 1923,on his 30th birthday and the 70th anniversary of the House of Goyard, Robert Goyard took over the management of the shop while Edmond remained the creative director. As a captain, Robert Goyard had proved himself during the First World War when he was awarded the Legion of Honor, Croix de Guerre with four citations, as well as the Military Cross.

In 1925, the Maison Goyard took the Diploma of Honor, at the very prestigious Exposition of Decorative Arts at the Grand Palais, where all the great names of the profession were present.

Orders increased. The workshop, transferred from Bezon to Levallois-Perret,  grew from 24 rue des Arts to include number 22. The rue des Arts was renamed rue Marius Aufan in 1925

The 3rd December, 1931, the Maison Goyard obtained a patent for the Malle Bureau, which during its development had become a veritable piece of furniture. Portable with a writing table, this trunk could neatly accommodate a typewriter, papers, files and indispensable documents.

The 9th December, 1936, Robert Goyard decided, with his friends Boucheron, Cartier, Charvet, Chaumet, Guerlain, Morgan, Ritz, to unite the most prestigious houses of the Place Vendome. The head office was, naturally, 233 rue Saint-Honoré.

Maison E. Goyard, french luxury luggage maker, The modernity of the inheritance

Always visionary, the Maison Goyard partnered with some of the largest companies to benefit from the prodigious transfer of technology.

At the beginning of the century, it collaborated with the prestigious carriage-maker J. Rothschild and sons Rheims and Auscher to produce trunks capable of being fitted into the automobiles of Bugatti, Delahaye, Voisin, Delage… This success entrained others. Air France soon called on Goyard to make new luggage in canvas jacquard, always lighter and more portable. 

Edmond Goyard died in 1937, and Robert Goyard lead the family until his death in 1979. Then, his son, Francois Edmond Goyard - with the same name as the founder of the brand - carried on with the same values of the Maison.

Today, the Signoles family continues the work of the Goyards with passion and in respect for tradition and the Goyard savoir-faire.

 

Maison E. Goyard

Version en français de Maison E. Goyard Paris, malletier de luxe, malle Goyard, malle de luxe