A sustainable business model
Five generations of entrepreneurs laid the foundations for today’s Établissements Carré. Marketing men ahead of their time, they knew how to forecast and anticipate market trends and, above all, how to adapt to them. In a profession they knew better than any, generation after generation, they imposed upon their own company the radical changes that were vital for the growth they sensed coming.
In 1888, Ernest Carré, the son of a manufacturer from Chaumont-sur-Loire, decided to set up in Paris and took on the challenge of developing the ceramic tile trade. To this he subsequently added, with his son Gustave, refractory materials then in demand within the building trade and industry.
1925 — the crazy years, when Art Deco became highly fashionable. The company truly won its colours thanks to the intuition of Roger Carré, who forecast the formidable growth in home decoration. It established itself in a new and booming market: decorative tiles and traditional, artisan-made tiled floors — Beauvais tiles, Auneuil tiles, Bourgogne pavers, Provençal floor tiles, enamelled earthenware, borders and friezes.
These everyday products were gradually abandoned from 1955 onward by Jean-Michel Carré, who chose to specialise in the top-of-the-range, bespoke products that became the company’s spearhead and brand image.
Today, facing market globalisation, Carré has chosen to join forces with the Jolies Céramiques S.A. group, a French manufacturer specialising in top-of-the-range tiles (Émaux de Briare, Aurum…), guaranteeing the company longevity and a greater capacity for investment.
