The town and the brand: Aubusson

During the reign of Louis XIV, the textile industry in the town of Aubusson was awarded an official royal seal of quality. The factory and its network of weavers were known as:

Manufacture Royale d'Aubusson (Royal Aubusson Manufactory). In 1665, all the individual workshops in the town were granted the right to use this title, provided that their tapestries met strict quality standards. The weavers were required to weave the letters MRDA (Manufacture Royale d'Aubusson) into the tapestry's blue border as a kind of certificate of authenticity.

Today, the tradition is so unique that UNESCO has inscribed the ‘Tapisserie d'Aubusson’ on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. You can still visit the Cité internationale de la tapisserie there, a magnificent museum devoted entirely to this history.