1821

Pierre Moyard and his wife Henriette set up home in the shadow of Morges castle. They have three children: Jules, who begins working as a furniture maker in 1827; Jeanne, who becomes an interior decorator ; and Louise-Henriette.

1848

Louise-Henriette gives birth to a son, Jean-Henri. His aunt Jeanne and uncle Jules teach him the secrets of their trade.

1908

After attending specialist schools in Paris and spending three years in the best workshops of the French capital, his son Henri takes over the family business.

1930

Henri Moyard’s career culminates in the purchase of a building at Grand-Rue 83, the former Hostellerie des Trois-Rois from the 18th century.

1945

His daughters Edmée Winkler-Moyard and Nelly Guignard-Moyard carry on the family tradition, assisted by their husbands Fritz, a master upholsterer and decorator, and David, a furniture maker.

1964

Having completed his training and apprenticeships, Jean Winkler joins the firm, which becomes a limited liability company in 1969.

2004

Mathieu Winkler, representing the seventh generation, joins the company after studying economics and obtaining a diploma in interior design.

2014

Three 18th-century houses in the centre of Morges are devoted to the art of fine living. The workshops in which Moyard’s expert craftspeople – furniture makers, polishers, upholsterers/decorators and quilters – weave their magic are now located in rue de Lausanne.

A taste for beauty honed over seven generations

In his hands, he holds two glass frames containing images from another era: black-and-white photographs that trace an entire lineage. Jean Winkler gazes affectionately at his ancestors as if seeing them for the very first time. “Look, that’s my grandfather Henri and my grandmother Edmée with a long apron. She’s standing in front of the Moyard shop holding my mother in her arms.” A grandfather who was an upholsterer just like his great grandfather and his great-great-great grandfather Pierre Moyard before him – the first in a family saga that spans seven generations.
In his wood-panelled office with a mandala on the wall and a Harley-Davidson mouse mat on the table, Jean Winkler has kept the licence granted by the municipality of Morges in 1821 – a reminder of the company’s earliest days. Jean knows little about grandfather Pierre, a craftsman from Préverenges; the memories have been lost in the mists of time. Only his grandfather Henri, who took over as head of the firm in 1908, has a dim recollection of the old man. “I knew him until I was five. I remember sitting on his knee. He had a moustache and loved stamps and shooting. He trained in Paris. I still have his gold medal from the Society of Architects!” At the time, Moyard was just a small workshop that restored furniture and made mattresses. Henri wanted to purchase premises next to the Musée Forel. The owner refused to sell, and so it was that Henri set himself up at rue Centrale 14. “In 1930, he bought the Hostellerie des Trois-Rois at Grand-Rue 83, where we are today. He substantially enlarged the business. He had made contacts in France and was known for his expertise.” Jean lived in this building. His childhood memories include dinners at table shared with the staff from the workshops. It was none other than his mother, Edmée Winkler, who took over the reins: “a woman of character”, as he stated in a homage to her published in the Journal de Morges on her death in 2002. This apple-cheeked lady never shirked or feared to take the lead at a time when women were expected to remain discreetly in the background. “In 1930 she went off to Basel to study business,” recalls Jean. “She might have chosen something different, but she was expected to take over the shop. That’s just how it was. And she grew to accept the idea.” In 1945 she officially took over Moyard while her sister Nelly worked there as a seamstress. Her husband Fritz, an upholsterer by trade, ran the workshop. “My mother had a flair for business. She was ahead of her time when it came to developing stylish furniture and then enlarging the shop.” At the age of ten, Jean moved to a building in avenue Coderey constructed by his parents. From the Grand-Rue, where he played and took his scissors to some armchairs that were in storage, the “boy Moyard” as he was known was but a short distance from the countryside above Morges. “From then on my sister Elisabeth and I didn’t see much of our parents. There was so much work to do, and bills to write in the evening. We were brought up by our grandmother.” Mathieu, Jean’s son, has never forgotten his grandmother: a working woman of impeccable honesty who sold a legendary megaron lamp from the well-known Artemide brand by explaining to her customer that, apart from its obvious aesthetic appeal, the contraption would be sure to toast any mosquito foolish enough to settle on it. That gift for closing found its way into Jean Winkler’s genes. “I also came round to the idea of taking over the shop. It was in 1964, after I finished studying business and economics.” Moyard now occupied three buildings. “I designed contemporary furniture and my mother and I changed everything.” Mathieu has recently come on board, the latest in a line that dates back to 1821. “Sooner or later, I tell myself that the generational link will come to an end,” says Jean. “Of course I’m happy that my son is here. But it wouldn’t have been a problem if he hadn’t wanted to be.” Jean didn’t just offer his two daughters Sophie and Véronique and his son a choice in the matter: he actively encouraged it. So for Mathieu, becoming an interior designer was a vocation, albeit one nurtured in an environment imbued with a love of furniture. “Georges is the artistic one. He was Moyard’s interior designer for decades. He was always telling me stories about furniture. I think my desire to enter the profession comes from him,” Mathieu explains. “I also imagine my grandmother would be delighted to see me in the shop. I’m very proud to have such a heritage. Today, I’ve developed the contemporary aspect even more. I try to incorporate an artistic element by staging exhibitions. But I also think back to all the craftspeople in my family and that gives me the energy to keep our skills alive.”