I read about the Toile de Jouy Museum/Musée de la Toile de Jouy a while ago and was intrigued by the specificity of it. It’s outside of Paris, near Versailles and accessible by RER.
The museum is in a splendid, petit château, constructed in 1882, and before you entered the museum, there was a lovely, formal garden with rows of flower beds interspersed with plants.
Opened in 1977, the museum is dedicated to the art and craftsmanship of the toile de jouy textile which dates to the 17thcentury. Christophe-Philippe Oberkampf founded the factory in the late 17th century to print cotton fabric inspired by fabrics from India. Under the reign of Napoleon, the factory thrived, becoming the third largest business in France with more than 1300 workers. Over 30,000 new prints were designed during an 83-year period. The museum has amassed a collection of over 10,000 pieces, which includes painted and printed canvases, fabric sample albums, drawings, gouache prints, paintings, costumes, and furniture.
There were two, wonderful temporary exhibitions on the main floor (unfortunately they are now longer up) which were modern takes on the classic toile de jouy patterns.
Kintsugi is a Japanese design technique that uses resin and gold dust. A group of Japanese fashion students from Osaka used the technique and applied it to the fabric, creating some super, cool clothing designs, dispersing them throughout the main floor salons.
New York artist and designer Richard Saja was invited by the museum to create a special collection named Muses and Monsters, where Saja reinvented several old patterns, putting his unique, sometimes subversive spin on them.
The second floor features the permanent exhibition and collection, with an extensive history of how the factory started and its progression over the centuries.
I went back to the main floor and went gaga in the gift shop, with every conceivable use of toile de jouy print, which was on umbrellas, coasters, espadrilles, blouses, shirts, stationery, pencils, pillows, throws, tote bags, and lots, lots more. They also had bolts of toile de jouy fabric, which you can buy by the meter.
Note: It’s a bit tricky getting to the museum, but I think it's because I went on a Saturday and the trains were running much slower. There are directions on the website, but it may be better to call first.
Château de l’Églantine
54, rue Charles de Gaulle
78350 Jouy-en-Josas
https://www.museedelatoiledejouy.fr/
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