How to sum up Catherine Painvin’s life? Impossible. A jack-of-all-trades and genius entrepreneur, she has left her mark on decoration, children’s fashion, real estate and luxury… through Aubrac and the creation of the concept of Group Selection agencies. An extraordinary woman with an equally extraordinary career.
At 74 years old, she is still surprised. « Where does it come from? I don’t know. I didn’t learn to be a stylist, nor did I learn about decoration, everything comes to me directly from the sky. From Le Perche of her childhood where she now lives, Catherine Painvin unravels for us the film of her life. Or rather of her lives, as she seems to have had a thousand.
The divine does not explain everything: this insatiable appetite for entrepreneurship, this extraordinary vital energy that makes her go through all trials, this freedom that made her the first self-made woman. « I’m an artist, a real enthusiast! » she justifies with the energy that characterizes her. A creator and an incredible businesswoman: a billionaire in the 80s, Catherine Painvin has never stopped creating and innovating.
A FLOUR AND WATER HISTORY
Always one step ahead, even when it came to leaving her childhood. At the age of 17, Catherine became pregnant with her first child. Without a baccalaureate or a penny after her husband’s bankruptcy, she armed herself with her jar of flour and a little water to make gifts. Her stock sold out in less than two days. The young woman added to her range with velvet phone covers, aprons and finally sets of place mats in the shape of pears, apples and tomatoes: “I had 3 children growing up quickly and my first husband was never there (…) I was tired of wiping the table and the children were getting dirty every night, so I had the idea of making plastic table sets. Rather than making rectangles, I made apples, pears, and tomatoes… we sold them from New York to Tokyo. I was 23 years old. The success story had just begun.
OF BUSINESS AND MEN
« I’m also a great lover, » she still sighs today. Exalted, whole. Her affairs of the heart are inseparable from her commercial affairs. For better or for worse.
In her autobiography, she tells how on the night of her tenth wedding anniversary, tired of her husband’s infidelities, she decides to leave everything. « I don’t know what took me, an incredible survival instinct, I opened the door, in a nanosecond, I decided to leave for life (…) I gave up absolutely everything, the factory, the Jaguar, the money, everything that went with it. I left with my three children under my arm and 2000 francs. It was December 7, 1974. »
Three years later, it was in the loving gaze of another man that she found the strength to launch her famous children’s clothing brand: Tartine et Chocolat. Tartine, for Catherine’s affectionate nickname, Chocolat for the little name given to Bertrand by her children.
In her book, she returns to the « revelation » that led her to revolutionise children’s fashion. It was on a beach, « I was remembering John Kennedy’s funeral a few years before, seeing Jacqueline Kennedy and her children, the two little children with their sky-blue coats, and I asked myself, ‘Where did those coats come from?’ I replied to myself, ‘You can’t know, there is no global luxury brand for children.’ And then, in a nanosecond, I said to myself: ‘I’m going to create the world’s first luxury brand for children.’ It came to me as a revelation.
A VISIONARY
Entrepreneurial life has taken Catherine to the top: she was elected business-woman of the year in 2001, made a Knight of the Legion of Honor by Jacques Chirac in 2002. In 1996, she received a Gold Sign for the Tartine and Chocolat boutiques, which she designed as children’s rooms. Real furniture instead of shelves, a cosy atmosphere like at home: « I was the first to do that. » A visionary, as is often the case.
What makes her successful in business also guides her in her real estate purchases. « It’s immediate, I can see right away what it’s going to become. I remember, when we arrived in the main courtyard of the castle of Curzay-sur-Vonne, I took out the checkbook at the same time as I put my first foot out of the car. Like the five other castles she bought to give them a second life, this eighteenth-century gem was still in a raw state: » It had 60 rooms but no bathrooms! In Le Perche, I transformed the Château de Villeret, an enormous Renaissance castle that dominated my grandparents’ village. I had seen throughout my childhood, but I never thought that it could belong to me one day. I bought it when I was 46 years old. “
ONCE AGAIN, (RE)START AGAIN
In 2000, she lost everything again: her husband, her company Tartine and Chocolate and her childhood chateau.
It was on the plateaus of the Aubrac that her life was rebuilt this time. With Bertrand, they used to stay there every winter. “I first arrived in Aubrac on 20 May 1984. At noon it was 20 degrees, we had lunch at Chez Bras, and when we got out at 4 pm, there was 20cm of snow. The next day, 20 degrees again, the daffodils were poking out of the snow. It was supernatural. Extreme and unpredictable like her, this territory that looked like the end of the world would be her salvation.
She says, « I’d lost 20 pounds, I was in a psychiatric clinic when the phone rang: it was Adrienne, Germaine’s daughter. [Chez Germaine is a traditional restaurant located in Aubrac] she was worried about not having seen me for a year. She said to me, « Stop crying over a man, none of them are worth it. » I escaped from the clinic and the next day I was in Aubrac with the children. I decided to stay there, and I bought my house there, which was a total ruin. To my daughter Margaux, who was worried about seeing me live in this great building abandoned for fifteen years, her brother Guillaume replied: « Mum and the house are in the same state, they will redo themselves together ». And that’s what happened. I called my Mongolian friends to help me, and six months later, the seventeen bedrooms and as many bathrooms at the Comptoir d’Aubrac were finished.”
LE COMPTOIR D’AUBRAC, AN EXTRAORDINARY GUEST HOUSE
Long before they were fashionable, Catherine installed three beautiful yurts and bought the house opposite, which became The Annex of Aubrac. The beginning of a gentle life where it cultivated the sense of welcome, aesthetics and hospitality.
The uniquely decorated guest houses have illustrated the pages of some of the most prestigious magazines while the incredible atmosphere of the place attracts famous visitors from all over the world. « I woke up with beautiful souls, people who didn’t want to go to Courchevel or Saint-Tropez. They were looking for the exception in an exceptional place.”
Named Talent of Luxury in 2004, Catherine Painvin was made an Officer of the Legion of Honour in 2012 for her commitment to Aubrac, which she brought to life and made shine like never before. “I felt that the Aubrac deserved what I gave to it,” she says.
CATHERINE AND US
In 2016, no more large tables: after the Annexe, she decided to sell the Comptoir d’Aubrac to be closer to her children. It was at this time that she met Jean-Stéphane Vilain, the director of the Sélection Groupe, who sold the mythical guest house for her and became her friend.
A friendship that led to a great collaboration as Catherine agreed to take the helm of the new aesthetic of the Group Selection agencies. « Her mission was to bring nature into our offices, » explains Jean-Stéphane Vilain. And our agency also had to be in the image of the houses of character that we offer to our clients. He gave her carte blanche. How could it have been otherwise?
I added a sofa, a huge 4-metre table in the middle, rugs underneath to make it cosy, chandeliers for a subdued atmosphere. Little by little, I transformed an office into a home. Only a glass partition separates the office from the management; The staff and customers have an eye on everything, without disturbing anyone. The result? A country living atmosphere, chic but warm, which perfectly corresponds to the values of our brands: transparency, elegance and conviviality that will be deployed throughout our 12 agencies.
ONE LIFE AND FIVE MINUTES
In addition to her activities in hotel and home decoration, Catherine Painvin has always touched everything: fashion creations, couture fabrics, painting, decoration seminars… not to mention the writing of her autobiography, in 2015, entitled « Une Vie et cinq minutes ». Why this title? « When Johnny Depp came to the house in Aubrac, I was working on the Chanel fabric. His secretary asked me, « How long does it take you to do this? » Because I understand how to create, so I answered: « 5 minutes! » And Johnny Depp added, « One life and five minutes, » because he knew it was the result of a lifetime. »
From the hills of Le Perche where she created The Good House with her son Guillaume, Catherine Painvin continues to write her legend. An extraordinary journey that she delivers with great sincerity, a character trait that has guided her throughout her life. « I really like this sentence from Matthieu Ricard who says: Kindness is a quality and not a weakness. I prefer to be naïve, too bad, and I don’t want to change. »
A « whole » life, generous and luminous, just like the sets she’s created. No wonder when the adage repeated by your grandmother is: « You have to have the straw in your ass, and the fire in it »: an invitation to rebel, try, reinvent yourself, whatever the cost.
