Macon & Lesquoy’s embroidered emojis

The French embroidery house has collaborated with football teams and the world’s biggest museums.

What do PSG and the Orsay Museum have in common? They both collaborate with Macon & Lesquoy. The French brand is known for its embroideries made of metal threads, specializing in playful, figurative designs that can be added to a garment, a handbag or a phone case.

“At the beginning, we wanted to create patches to upcycle damaged garments, but in a more adult and luxurious way” says co-founder Marie Macon. Over time, they’ve expanded their range, from patches that can be sewn over a hole in a pair of jeans to brooches that adorn the lapel of a jacket, and even embroidered stickers to add on a notebook, in collaboration with Papier Tigre.

Quirky objects and ancestral technique

Their strength lies in poetic designs with a touch of second degree, such as animals, everyday objects, flowers or sweet words. These “embroidered emojis” have become real eye-catchers, thanks to an Indian-Pakistani technique in which metal threads are wound into fine spirals, and embroidered like beads. “It’s a very ancient technique that has been used for coats of arms and military decorations. We wanted to give it a twist that both the customers and the embroidery artisans could enjoy.”

Marie Macon and Anne-Laure Lesquoy have been working with the same Pakistani suppliers for 16 years, a relationship of trust that they cherish above all else. At the same time, Premiere Classe gave them a ticket into the fashion world.

“We both have a background of industrial product design. Premiere Classe has brought us more institutional clients, bigger orders and a textile perspective that is very complementary to our products.”

Today Macon & Lesquoy has more than 300 retailers worldwide, and its own store in Paris. This season, the brand has collaborated with the Orsay Museum, for which it reimagined some iconic Impressionist motifs, such as Monet’s poppies and water lilies. At the same time, it created typical Parisian pictograms for the PSG football team, such as street signs, Morris columns and football scarves.

“Premiere Classe is essential for a small team with such a heavy workload as ours. Whether it’s new clients, distributors, agents or wholesalers, the trade show’s ecosystem is at the very heart of our journey.”

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