A taste for aesthetics woven through seven generations

In his hands, two glass frames preserve images from another era. Black and white photographs that bear witness to an entire lineage. With a knowing look, Jean Winkler stares at his ancestors as if discovering them for the first time. ‘Look there, that's my grandfather Henri and my grandmother Edmée in a long apron. She's holding my mother in her arms in front of the Moyard shop. His grandfather was an upholsterer, as was his great-grandfather, and his great-great-great-grandfather Pierre Moyard. The first in a long family saga spanning seven generations. In his wood-panelled office, with a mandala on one wall and a Harley-Davidson mousepad on the table, Jean Winkler has kept the licence issued by Morges town council in 1821. A trace of the company's beginnings.

Jean knows very little about this craftsman from Préverenges. Memories have faded over the generations. What remains are those of Henri, his grandfather who took over the business in 1908. ‘I knew him until I was 5. I remember sitting on his lap. He had a moustache and a passion for stamps and shooting. He went to school in Paris. I still have his gold medal from the Society of Architects’. At the time, Moyard was just a small workshop where furniture was restored and mattresses made. Henri had wanted to buy the premises next to the Forel Museum. When the owner refused, the craftsman moved to rue Centrale 14: ‘In 1930, he ended up buying the Hostellerie des Trois-Rois at Grand-Rue 83, where we are today. He developed the business considerably. It has to be said that with his connections in France, he was known for his expertise. Jean lived in this building. As a child, he remembers sharing dinners with the workers in the workshops. The person who was to take over the reins was none other than his mother, Edmée Winkler. A ‘woman of character’, as her tribute in the Journal de Morges noted when she died in 2002. This generous-cheeked lady never shied away from hard work, nor was she afraid to take the lead at a time when women kept a low profile. In 1930, she went to Basel to study business,’ says Jean. She might have chosen something else. But she had to take over the shop. That was that. And she got used to the idea. In 1945, she officially took over Moyard, while her sister Nelly worked as a seamstress. Her husband, Fritz, was an upholsterer by trade and ran the workshop. ‘My mother had a head for business. She was in the vanguard when she developed stylish furniture and then expanded the shop.

At the age of ten, Jean moved into a block of flats on Avenue Coderey built by his parents. From the Grand-Rue, where he used to play and cut up stored armchairs with scissors, the ‘little Moyard’ - as he was known - found himself almost in 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 pay in the evening. Our grandmother brought us up. Mathieu, Jean's son, has never forgotten his grandmother. She who, with the sincerity of a hard worker, sold a well-known lamp by Artemide, explaining to her customer that, apart from the obvious aesthetic appeal of the object, this megaron would certainly fry any mosquitoes ready to land on it. Jean Winkler's knack for selling had seeped into his genes. ‘I also got used to the idea of taking over the shop. That was in 1964, after my HEC studies. Moyard now occupied three buildings. I developed the contemporary furniture and my mother and I transformed everything.

Mathieu is a recent addition to the thread woven since 1821. Sooner or later, I tell myself that this generational link will come to an end,’ says Jean. Clearly, I'm happy that my son is here. But it wouldn't have been a problem if he hadn't wanted to. Jean didn't just leave the choice up to his two daughters, Sophie and Véronique, and his son. He cultivated it. For Mathieu, becoming an interior designer was a vocation. It's true that his love of furniture grew in fertile soil. ‘Georges was the artist. He was Moyard's interior designer for decades. He always told me lots of stories about furniture. I think he gave me the desire to do this job,’ confides Mathieu. I can also imagine that my grandmother would be very happy to see me in the shop. I'm very proud to have such a heritage. Today, I've developed the contemporary side even further. I try to bring a strong artistic aspect by creating exhibitions. But I'm also thinking of all the craftspeople in my family, and that gives me a lot of energy to keep our skills alive.