Aubusson Tapestries

During the late Middle Ages, a production flourishes whose name, still today, is renowned worldwide, and listed in the World Culturage  Heritage of Humanity by Unesco (2009)

The history of this production appears to coincide with the expansion of several handicraft activities in the Massif Central (cutlery, paper mills, armouries, silk and awhile later lace). Although Flemish origins are unproven, tapestries from Marche could have derived from the reorientation of the local cloth industry into craftwork.

A production of blankets and bedsheets existed in Felletin. The presence of a textile infrastructure together with a quality workforce and a customer base could explain why textile manufacturers sized the economic opportunity to transform their utilitarian industry into an art production. The first credible mentions are notary acts in 1457 and 1473, mentioning the presence of tapestry weavers in Felletin.

Productions specialized, improved, and integrated an export trade driven by traders who trusted the wool expertise of Creuse workers and built for them an efficient and prosperous export network.

Early XVI century, local tapestry workers appropriated trendy products made in Arras or in Flanders. Then appeared tapestries with “foliages” decoration, with cabbage leaves or aristolochia, millefleurs, hunting scenes and fantastic or exotic bestiaries.

(Source- City of the Aubusson tapestry )

(Source - Cité de la tapisserie d'Aubusson)