--- title: "Museum of Traditional Bedding - Les Ateliers Le Briand" url: https://le-briand.fr/en/museum/ description: "Step back in time and explore the history of traditional bedding, the mattress-making trade, wool mattresses and box springs." lang: en-US updated: 2026-10-11 translations: fr: https://le-briand.fr/musee/ source: https://le-briand.fr/en/museum.md --- # The bedding museum: the history of wool mattresses and box springs An illustrated history of traditional bedding and mattress making. Mattress makers and bedding makers hold a central place in people’s lives because of the very nature of the objects they make. We are born in them, sleep in them, conceive children in them and die in them. The earliest traces of the mattress-making trade date back to the 19th century Historically, **mattress making** was an itinerant trade carried out by a married couple who divided the work between them. Travel through time to discover the history and evolution of natural wool mattresses, box springs and the mattress-making trade through: - historical accounts - archival photographs and images - videos and films - postcards - ink blotters - period catalogs - firsthand accounts - collectible objects Until the Second World War, mattress makers worked in apartment courtyards and farmyards, sheltered under bridges, in stairwells or even in the street. It was an itinerant trade in both towns and the countryside. The profession then gradually became workshop-based. Until the mid-1960s, there were mattress makers on every street corner. **The wool mattress** became commonplace during the second half of the 19th century, largely as a result of colonization and the supply of wool shorn from sheep in North and Central Africa. Wool from colonized regions cost less than French wool. Wool mattresses consequently became widely affordable rather than remaining the preserve of a wealthy elite. This educational space also chronicles how mattress making and the trade’s place in society have changed as the world has evolved. ![wool mattress and box spring | Les Ateliers Le Briand](https://img.le-briand.fr/uploads/2020/03/matelassier-paris-histoire-musee-fabrication-matelas-laine-sommier-tapissier-publicite-cover.jpg) ## Vintage advertising! A collection of memorable advertisements from bedding brands [Explore the history of bedding through advertising](https://le-briand.fr/en/museum/advertising/) ![wool mattress and box spring | Les Ateliers Le Briand](https://img.le-briand.fr/uploads/2020/03/matelassier-paris-histoire-musee-fabrication-matelas-laine-sommier-tapissier-tour-monde-cover.jpg) ## Around the world A brief tour of traditional mattress making around the world [Discover mattress making around the world](https://le-briand.fr/en/museum/around-the-world/) ![wool mattress and box spring | Les Ateliers Le Briand](https://img.le-briand.fr/uploads/2020/03/matelassier-paris-histoire-musee-fabrication-matelas-laine-sommier-tapissier.jpg) ## Objects from the past Le Briand makes custom, handmade wool mattresses for babies at its workshops in Paris, France. You can also read reviews and learn about prices for these **healthy**, **natural** mattresses, which are ideal for newborns. [Discover objects that symbolize the history of mattress making](https://le-briand.fr/en/museum/objects/) ![wool mattress and box spring | Les Ateliers Le Briand](https://img.le-briand.fr/uploads/2020/03/matelassier-paris-histoire-musee-fabrication-matelas-laine-sommier-tapissier-artiste-cover.jpg) ## Artists and mattress makers Despite its prevalence in 19th-century society, the mattress-making trade rarely appears in art. Discover some little-known treasures! [The mattress maker’s craft in art](https://le-briand.fr/en/museum/art/) ## Historical documentaries [Reports on mattress makers](https://le-briand.fr/en/museum/mattress-maker-report/) ![wool mattress and box spring | Les Ateliers Le Briand](https://img.le-briand.fr/uploads/2020/12/matelassier-paris-musee-literie-traditonnelle-histoire-matelas-en-france.jpg) ## The history of the mattress Henry Havard traces the history of the mattress as an item of bedding back to the origins of this useful yet humble object. [Discover the history of the mattress](https://le-briand.fr/en/museum/history-of-the-mattress/) ![Decorative tufted mattress on a bench seat](https://img.le-briand.fr/uploads/2021/07/matelas-decoratifs-pour-mobilier.jpg) ## The mattress as a decorative object As Henry Havard reminds us, in the 18th century mattresses were not only for beds. Bergères, sofas and canapés had their own, filled with feathers or animal hair and covered in the fabric of the backrest. [Discover the mattress as a decorative object](https://le-briand.fr/en/museum/origins-of-the-mattress/) ![Old photograph: mattress makers at work on a Paris quay, at the foot of a stone staircase](https://img.le-briand.fr/uploads/2020/03/matelassier-paris-histoire-musee-fabrication-matelas-laine-sommier-tapissier-episode-1-1.jpg) ## A Mattress Maker in the Faubourg: the serial In a journal of eight episodes, Patrice Sébille tells how he took over the Le Briand workshop at the turn of the year 2000, and the life of the mattress makers of the Faubourg Saint-Antoine. [Read the mattress maker’s serial](https://le-briand.fr/en/museum/mattress-maker-chronicle/) Passing this heritage on to future generations is one of the aims of this archival collection, which will continue to grow. Although it is far from a continuous account, **the project aims to be as comprehensive and collaborative as possible**. This first online bedding museum is presented by [Le Briand](https://le-briand.fr/en/), which has designed, [made](https://le-briand.fr/en/wool-mattress/#making) and [refurbished](https://le-briand.fr/en/wool-mattress/refurbishment/) traditional bedding since 1880, drawing on French expertise and French production. This museum began to take shape, somewhat by chance, from archival photographs and images of the Faubourg Saint-Antoine in Paris’s 11th arrondissement and of mattress making in Paris. Patrice Sébille began posting them in 2015 to [the La Fabrique de l’Histoire Facebook group](https://www.facebook.com/groups/lafabriquedelhistoire/). First published online in 2019, the collection in this cultural space has steadily grown over the years through **the archives of Les Ateliers Le Briand** and **a project driven by Patrice Sébille’s passionate curiosity**. It would probably never have developed so fully without his conversations with authors, his reading and his research. We would like to thank the following contributors and sources: - Jacques Le Briand - [Alain Thillay](https://www.champ-vallon.com/auteur/alain-thillay/) and his books *Le faubourg Saint-Antoine et ses « faux ouvriers » (The Faubourg Saint-Antoine and Its “False Workers”)* (Champ Vallon, 2004) and *L’économie du bas au faubourg Saint-Antoine (The Informal Economy in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine)* (1998) - [Pascal Dibie](https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascal_Dibie) and his book *Ethnologie de la chambre à coucher (Ethnology of the Bedroom)* (Éditions Métailié, 1987) - [Henry Havard](https://data.bnf.fr/13488434/henry_havard/) and his *Dictionnaire de l’ameublement et de la décoration: depuis le XIIIe siècle jusqu’à nos jours (Dictionary of Furniture and Decoration: From the 13th Century to the Present Day)* (1894) If you would also like to help preserve and promote this French heritage, whose role in modern society is more relevant than ever in light of environmental, economic and social change, you can: [Contact us](https://le-briand.fr/en/contact/) [Visit us](https://le-briand.fr/en/address/) Continue your visit by [coming to see us at the Cité de l’Ameublement in Paris’s 11th arrondissement](https://le-briand.fr/en/address/).