Seguy founded the artistic department of Printemps in 1913. As director, he oversaw the publication of the store’s luxurious catalogues and the execution of its innovative displays until 1924 (see La Vie limousine). Gueden began her career at Primavera in 1927 as a designer (alongside Claude Lévy, Gisele Favre, and Madeleine Sougez) and was made director in 1938. Printemps was one of the first large department stores to have its own line, creating modern objets d’art for a growing middle class. Under the Primavera banner, Gueden designed a multitude of decorative wares - wallpaper, jewellery, ornaments, and ceramics - including a furniture commission for President Vincent Auriol and a brief to create the large bas-reliefs for the steamer La Marseillaise (1949).

Perhaps Séguy’s most effective collection, Insectes followed the format established by Papillons (“Butterflies”), commissioned by the American textile company F. Schumacher and Co. in 1920. Insectes contains 16 plates of naturalistically rendered insects, followed by 4 composite plates which play with the design possibilities of the “sumptuous forms and colours” offered by “the world of insects” (translated from the preface). All are vividly executed in multiple colours using pochoir printing, “the only process which from the first to the last, best interprets the artist's original style”.