10,
rue Joliot-Curie - Z.I.
B.P. 701
37557 Saint-Avertin - France
Tel : +33 (0)2 47 28 02 15
Fax : +33 (0)2 47 28 18 37
E-mail : jean-roze@wanadoo.fr
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Location |
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The Jean ROZE company is located in Saint-Avertin, southward in
the surroundings of Tours, along the Cher river. |
Tours and its surroundings have a close historical link with the
silk industry in France.
On Louis XI initiative, a first attempt was made to set up a silk
trade activity in Lyon to restrict Italian silk imports.
This attempt failed as the Italian importers, heading for ruin,
were manipulating against the project.
In 1470, King Louis XI, living at that time in Plessis-lès-Tours,
took the decision to implant a new silk factory closer to his home
and the Court.
Tours then turned into a general warehouse and silk industry became
flourishing. 800 masters and 6000 apprentices were working in the
field.
Material was sold during two annual fairs, lasting 15 days in May
and September and standing at Place Foire le Roi.
During the 16th century, this luxury industry, whose quality has
been competing with Lyon's for a long time, nurtured a third of
the working population of Tours.
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Company today |
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Whilst the British royal family is one of the company's most prestigious
customers at Buckingham Palace and at |
Windsor Castle, there are numerous customers in France, in Europe
and in the rest of the world, such as the châteaux of the
Loire like Chambord or Azay le Rideau, the palace of Het Loo which
is the family château of the House of Orange in the Netherlands,
or again, Waddesdon Manor, the property of the Rothschild family
in England.
The know-how developed during this prestigious work was also made
available to creators who are always looking for artisans and craftsmen.
Thus, a collaboration lasting almost 15 years with Jean Michel Wilmotte
has resulted in the creation of beautiful collections.
Today, the company, under the management of Antoinette ROZE, daughter
of Jean ROZE, a member of the twelfth generation, continues to develop
its specialisation in the weaving of silk upholstery fabrics for
a professional clientele in France and abroad.
It sells over 70% of its turnover abroad, particularly to English-speaking
countries, with England the favoured destination since the reign
of Louis XI.
In 2000, the JEAN ROZE company opened a dyeing workshop, which enables
it to provide a reactive and specialised response to the requirements
of interior decorators, since it can work now with them on materials,
designs, special fabrics and colours.
Today, it is able to implement its very extensive know-how, gained
on silk, to other materials such as cotton, viscose, wool or linen,
in order to obtain a variety of fabrics, a characteristic development
of a family company which has been able to see its future, from
generation to generation, without even for a moment lowering its
requirements or losing its profound respect for quality.
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Key Dates of the
Company's History |
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1470 |
It was king Louis XI who, by
the Decree of Amboise in 1470, decided to establish a silk
fabric manufactory in Tours. To succeed in doing so, he brought
there Italian workmen, together with their equipment, thus
giving birth to a very significant activity which survives
in our times.
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1650 |
The bonds which unite the ROZE
family and the silk manufacture of the Touraine go back to
the middle of the XVIIth century, to the arrival in Tours
of Jehan Baptiste ROZE, the first of a long family line. He
settled in Tours after his marriage to Mademoiselle MOUSSARD.
Being himself the son of a manufacturing merchant established
at Oulchy le Château in Picardy, and married twice,
he also married twice the daughter of a Touraine manufacturing
merchant.
He secured the title of a "Master manufacturing merchant
of gold, silver and silk fabrics", became a King's Counsellor
and rose to the rank of a Count. His portrait, painted by
Largillière, now hangs in the Musée des Beaux
Arts in Tours.
From this time forward, the passion of this family for its
trade has increased in Tours, and nothing was able to disturb
it for 12 generations to come, neither revolution or war,
nor economic crisis.
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1789 |
The ROZE factory undoubtedly
owes its longevity to the calibre of the men who, being genuine
entrepreneurs, knew how to take the right decisions at the
right moment.
Caught up in the torments of the French Revolution, Jacques
Alexandre ROZE-ABRAHAM was able to continue his activities
by designing new articles, woollen carpets and covers, in
order to make up for the absence of customers and problems
of the silk market. This activity became very prosper. It
commissioned the first steam engine in the region and operated
in the quarter of Sainte Anne until the end of the XIXth century.
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1819 |
At the same time in 1819, the
son-in-law, Frédéric PILLET-ROZE, was able to
resume the manufacturing of silk fabrics thanks to the return
of well-being customers.
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1850 |
The XIXth century was a period
of deep economic changes. Thus, as the records of designs
of the manufactory show, it was around 1850 that the Jacquard
loom made its appearance in the Tours workshops. It is easy
to imagine the extensive work the workmen, foremen and personnel
had to do in order to create the cards of every existing design,
to improve the techniques and to adapt to these developments.
It was at that time that Tours began to specialise in silk
fabrics designed for upholstery, considering that earlier,
there was no differentiation between the different uses of
fabric. There are records of orders for satins for breeches
or taffetas for linings …
In this context, Louis ROZE-ROZE, a member of the eighth generation
of the family, took charge of the destinies of the family
factory at the age of 24, after a brief association with his
cousin PILLET. He moved it to new premises, had to cope with
the economic crises of his time and to do so, he opened workshops
in Lyon and Roubaix. He developed new types of fabric and
top grade upholstery silks, which suffered less from the then
very strong competition from fabrics manufactured in northern
France.
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1929 |
His successors have continued
along this path and enjoyed a period of great prosperity,
especially during the nineteen twenties. But the big crisis
of 1929, which even led to the cancellation of orders already
being woven, proved a serious blow to the company and was
soon followed by the second World War which put the company
in deep difficulties.
On taking up the reins of the company, Jean ROZE, whose name
the company now bears, in turn endeavoured to adapt to the
new economic circumstances.
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1972 |
He undertook its mechanisation
and then, in 1972, moved it to the Zone Industrielle of Saint-Avertin.
The sole purpose of this step was to make it possible to continue
the manufacturing of fabrics which had made the reputation
of the company for quality, patterns and know-how.
His remarkable technical skills enabled Jean ROZE to continue
meeting the requirements of the international clientele of
the company, in particular the major interior decorators who
continue to place their confidence in the ROZE family, each
finding in his style the fabrics which allow him to personalise
their decors.
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