In Paris, the tale of the Grimmeisen sisters

By Valentin Perez

Posted today at 10:00 a.m.

Thousands of times, they have passed through this great gate above which the number 5 triumphs, dominating the name of the place: the Spring Court factory. Florence, Laura and Théodora Grimmeisen know its history, the corners, are always under the charm of the location, discreet, Passage Piver, in the heart of the Belleville district of Paris. And, of course, they like to rub shoulders with those who work and travel there: the employees of the Beggars music label, the architects of the MHNA firm, the fashion film producers Walter Films, the journalists of the magazine Socialter… All these people meet sometimes at the restaurant L’Atelier des mixtures, “a place of exchange” accessible by the courtyard, on the right as you enter, with its French menu (calf’s head, apple pudding, radish carpaccio, chocolate mousse, etc.) and bistro furniture.

“Since 2020, we have stopped following the frenetic calendar of the seasons. With us, everything is timeless, without gender or age: only the sizes vary, from 24 to 45.”

From this vast space of 5,000 square meters in total which has belonged to their family since 1870 and also houses photo studios where fashion brands like to come and do their shoots – like on the day of one of our visits, the Maison teams Margiela –, Florence, Laura and Theodora Grimmeisen are now the bare owners. It was even there, in one of the private apartments, that they were brought up.

Today, the youngest still lives there. The youngest got out of it, to better imagine a home… in an adjacent street. And every day they come again “working at “L’Usine””. The mission they have set themselves, however, has nothing to do with working: to restore the brilliance of Spring Court, the family tennis brand they inherited.

“We’re taking over the brand”

Founded in 1936 by their grandfather Georges, later adopted by John Lennon in apotheosis, it had been governed since 1983 by service providers to whom their parents had entrusted a license. “Over time, we saw the brand transform according to values ​​that were not necessarily ours. The distribution made little sense, the productions were not up to the level of quality of our specifications”, explains Laura. One day in 2015, their father, Théodore, president of the parent company, had had enough. “We’re taking over the brand”, decreed the patriarch, alongside his wife, Sylvie, general manager.

The three sisters Laura, Théodora and Florence Grimmeisen, heirs to the brand.

Proud smiles of the descendants: “Our father said it and we did it. » After all, between them, aren’t the Grimmeisen sisters perfectly complementary? Florence, 36, at the head of her own photo studio, La Lanterne, masters the language of the image and advises on artistic direction. Laura, 31, a biotechnology engineer, navigates the waters of accounting comfortably enough to coordinate development. Théodora, 26, studied shoe design at the London College of Fashion, then cut her teeth at Paul Smith or agnès b. She is responsible for creation.

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