The brothers Guillaume and Jean-Michel Grohe established their first workshop in Paris in 1827, which specialised in making and selling furniture and objets d'art. They were hugely successful, exhibiting at International Exhibitions from 1851, and were commissioned to refurnish apartments at the Louvre for Napoleon III and Empress Eugenie. Jean-Michel managed the business following his brother's retirement in 1861 until it ceased trading in 1884.