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Moynat

Founded 1849
Founder Pauline Moynat, Octavie et François Coulembier
Headquarters 348, rue Saint Honoré, Paris, France
Products Trunks, Leather Goods, Handbags
Website www.moynat.com

Moynat is a French luxury fashion house. Their first atelier was opened in Paris in 1849 by trunk-makers Octavie and François Coulembier. They joined forces with Pauline Moynat, a specialist in travel goods, to open the first store of avenue de l’Opera. Moynat was one of the very first leather goods houses of its day. Known for its traditional know-how and skills base in handcrafting made-to-order luggage and travel goods, the house became famous for its designs for the automobiles, as well as for its technical innovations such as making its trunks lighter and waterproof, and for its notable participation in the various World’s Fairs.

The House of Moynat was the result of a meeting between Pauline Moynat, who sold travel goods in the Opera district of Paris, and the Coulembier family, manufacturers from the faubourgs – the inner suburbs to the north of the city.

In 1849, the trunk makers opened their first atelier. They then joined forces with Pauline Moynat to open the Moynat boutique in 1869 on what was then the Place du Théâtre Français (now the Place André Malraux) opposite the famous Comédie-Française. The boutique was situated at the heart of Haussmann’s redesigned Paris, and following the construction of the Avenue de l'Opéra in 1876, it took pride of place at nº.1, later to become the oldest shop on the avenue. The Moynat boutique became an institution, staying open continuously for well over a hundred years until 1976.

A Moynat horse cart, 1880

The Moynat Boutique Avenue de l'Opéra in 1907

Interior of the Moynat Boutique, 1907

The collaboration between Pauline Moynat and the family of manufacturers began with François Coulembier, continuing with his sons Jules Ferdinand, Edmond, Louis and Maurice. The house reached the height of its commercial powers under the direction of the founder’s grandsons, profiting from the rise of the automobile to become a design reference in the context of this new mode of transport.

The business remained in the hands of the Coulembier family until 1976.

In 1907 the Coulembier family began construction on a model-factory at 15, rue Coysevox up at Montmartre. With some 1500m² of space situated in a four-storey building, the factory employed more than 250 workers, most of whom were specialist artisans, who built all the Moynat trunks. For the first time ever in Paris all the specialist skills associated with trunk-making were gathered together in one place.

The Coulembier brothers, Moynat directors, 1906


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