Jean henri jansen biography of mahatma

Ask any first-year design student to name the world’s first interior designers and they’re liable to rattle off Dorothy Draper, Elsie deWolfe, and Sister Parish.

Jean henri jansen biography of mahatma

While these designers were the undeniable headliners of early 20th century design, there’s one oft-forgotten name that predates them all: Maison Jansen.

Renowned for lavish, gilt-encrusted furniture that harks back to early French design and sleek, metallic-forward pieces that capitalize on Regency-era trends, Maison Jansen created some of the world’s most coveted furniture.

At its height, Maison Jansen was also an international interior design powerhouse that employed dozens of designers. Yet it all began humbly enough with one man: Jean-Henri Jansen. Originally from Holland, Jean-Henri was in his twenties when he founded House of Jansen in 1880.

While mystery shrouds much of Jansen’s early life, it’s known that he was incredibly well-connected and was trained under