Paule Marrot

Paule Marrot (17 April 1902 – 22 December 1987) was a Parisian textile designer widely known for her textile prints with a flat, two-dimensional, upbeat style — often with a floral pattern. She experienced strong popularity in the U.S. after World War II, worked with Renault to develop the company's textile and color division, and redefined furnishing fabrics in her native country of France.

Marrot won the gold medal in the textile category at the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts in Paris in 1925; the Prix Blumenthal in 1928; and was awarded the French Légion d'honneur (Legion of Honor), as Chevalier, in 1952. She was the subject of a 2017 retrospective at the Bordeaux Museum of Decorative Arts and Design with its exhibition, Oh Color! Design Through the Prism of Color, the curator calling Marrot "the Charlotte Perriand of Régie Renault."

Early life Paule Marrot was born Paule Félicie Hélène Marrot in Bordeaux on 17 April 1902, to a bohemian family with a musician father. Marrot attended L’école des Arts Décoratifs in Paris at age 14 and in 1917 apprenticed in engraving and textile printing with Pierre Léon Dusouchet. Marrot became a teacher and was selling some of her original textile designs when she met Raoul Dufy, a Fauvist painter, who in turn introduced her to Paul Poiret, a prominent fashion designer at the time — to whom Marrot subsequently sold a dress design — and ultimately fabric for his work.

Winning the Prix Blumenthal in 1928 allowed Marrot to open her workshop in Batignolles on at 34 rue Truffaut, where she became widely known for furniture textiles.

In 1932 her work was exhibited in the Salon des Artistes Decorateurs show came to the attention of Jean Schlumberger, According to Renault's own preliminary research for the upcoming Dauphine, a 1951 survey had shown that women held stronger opinions on a car's colors than the car itself.

Convinced of her value to the project, Pierre Lefaucheux made her a member of the Dauphine team — "to rid Renault of their stuffy image. After decades of being dipped in various shades of black and grey, car bodies [would be] painted in happy pastels."

Working with four others, Marrot proposed new body and interior colors after setting up a new test laboratory to measure fabric wear as well as paint wear and uniformity. The new colors contrasted with the colors from the competition, the Peugeot 203 and Simca Aronde, including bright colors with evocative names including Rouge Montijo, Jaune Bahamas, Bleu Hoggar and Blanc Réja. each bearing Marrot's imprint.

Licensing and posthumous releases 1999 saw the creation of Editions Paule Marrot Ltd which became SAS Editions Paule Marrot in 2002, reissuing more than 700 fabrics from Marrot's career along with numerous tablecloths and towel designs, a total of more than 670 designs. held a retrospective of her work.

Marrot designs have since been used extensively under license by companies as diverse as Nike, Anthropologie and the handbag maker, Hayden-Harnett.