Altesse Studio

Altesse Studio is a French hairbrush and body-brush maker based in the Thérain Valley in Picardy, northern France. Its roots reach back to 1875, when Léon Etienne Fournival opened a workshop that first made toothbrushes from bone and ivory [2]. Six generations later, the company presents itself as one of the last hairbrush manufacturers in France, producing handcrafted brushes that it positions as lifetime, heirloom-quality objects rather than disposable tools.

The business is active and, in recent years, has expanded internationally. Since the early 2020s it has belonged to the listed French group Chargeurs, and it now trades under the name Altesse Studio. Recent coverage in the US and European press, along with retail placement at stores such as Bloomingdale's and Nordstrom, reflects a brand in growth rather than decline.

The workshop Fournival established in 1875 shifted its focus to luxury hairbrushes around 1920, moving from bone toothbrushes to hand-shaped, hand-assembled brushes. The brand name most associated with the house came later: in 1963, the third-generation André Jean Fournival created the ALTESSE brand, whose products began appearing in Parisian perfumeries and salons [2]. (An Air Mail profile dates the rebranding more loosely to "the 1960s," consistent with the company's precise 1963 [9].)

The family stayed involved across generations. The fourth-generation François André Fournival joined in 1983 and expanded the company's private-label work for other brands. The company describes its artisans' approach as rooted in "perseverance, a love for craftsmanship, and an unwavering commitment to excellence," with much of the work done by hand — including the manual drilling of wooden handles in its top-tier collection.

A turning point came in 2005, when Jacques Gaillard acquired the company, an act the firm frames as preserving France's last hairbrush manufacturer. In 2016, Julia Tissot-Gaillard took over as head of the company as part of the sixth generation of brushmakers, and she remains its public voice. In 2017 the company received the French State's "Entreprise du Patrimoine Vivant" (Living Heritage Company) label, a distinction recognising firms that combine tradition and craft mastery; according to the company, the label was renewed in 2024.

The most recent chapter is its acquisition by Chargeurs and the move to the Altesse Studio name. The two events carry slightly different dates depending on the source. Chargeurs records in its 2021 financial report that it finalised the acquisition of Fournival Altesse in April 2021 [10], while the brand's own timeline lists 2022 — the year corresponding to the rebrand and integration as Altesse Studio [2].

Altesse Studio is owned by Chargeurs, a publicly listed French group, through its personal-care and healthcare division [10]. Chargeurs has described the company as a specialist in high-end Made in France hairbrushes. The 2005 purchase by Jacques Gaillard and the later Chargeurs acquisition are the two ownership changes recorded in the company's history; before that, the business remained in the founding Fournival family [2].

The company frames brushmaking as a heritage craft and brushing itself as a daily self-care ritual. Its stated belief is that "beauty is a harmonious balance between body and mind," and it describes each brush as "a promise of excellence and well-being." Durability is central to the message: the house says its brushes are "made to last — reducing the need for frequent replacement," and markets its top line as repairable for life through a "Prestige Club" of repair and certification. Its tagline sums up the positioning as "a ritual of care, a legacy of craft, a brush for life."

Alongside its own-name brushes, the company has long served as a manufacturer for other houses. It positions itself as a custom-development specialist for luxury brands, and on its know-how page states that more than fifty global brands — among them Kérastase, Leonor Greyl, L'Officine Universelle Buly and Alexandre de Paris — rely on its workshops.

Altesse Studio's range centres on hairbrushes, organised into a Beauté collection for detangling, care and styling, and a fully handmade Prestige collection. It also makes body brushes under the Vitalis name, marketed for sensitive and normal skin and for lymphatic drainage. The brushes are built from materials the company calls noble and long-lasting: first-cut boar bristles, hand-carved olive wood, bio-sourced nylon fibres for detangling, and natural rubber for the cushioned bases. The firm says a single wild-boar-bristle brush represents about seven hours of work.

Boar bristle is the house's signature material, and the company explains its appeal in functional terms. As described in trade coverage, the keratin bristles act like scales that pick up oil at the roots and draw it down the hair shaft, distributing the scalp's natural sebum toward drier ends [8]. To put this into practice, the company recommends a "100 Stroke Method" — dividing the head into four sections and brushing each twenty-five times. Its Prestige brushes, carved in olive wood and hand-strung with boar bristles, are sold as heirlooms that come with a lifetime of free repairs [9].

The company's Repair Shine Brush received a Marie Claire Hair Award in 2024 [7]. Its brushes have also drawn editorial attention: Hypebae covered the launch of its boar-bristle hairbrush in the United States in 2024 [8], and a 2025 Air Mail feature recommended its Prestige olive-wood brush within a broader piece on heritage, longevity-focused beauty tools [9]. The company additionally lists coverage in a range of major titles on its own press page; that list is self-reported and is not detailed here.

Sustainability claims sit close to the brand's durability message. The company says it sources FSC-certified wood from sustainably managed forests, obtains boar bristles through what it calls animal-friendly and traceable practices, and uses natural rubber and recyclable materials in components and packaging. It frames its environmental approach around three points: reducing waste by optimising cutting and assembly and reusing offcuts, using cleaner energy in its workshops, and extending product life so brushes need replacing less often. Independent third-party certifications beyond the FSC wood claim are not stated in the sources.

Altesse Studio is an operating, multi-region brand. Its products are made in France and sold across Europe and the United States, with retail placement reported at Bloomingdale's and Nordstrom. Recent activity includes the 2024 US launch coverage, the Marie Claire Hair Award the same year, the renewal of its Living Heritage label, and editorial attention into early 2025, when the company also marked 150 years since the founding of the original Fournival workshop.