An avid swimmer, Jean Desjoyaux completed the construction of his second home in Cuzieu in 1966 and decided to build a swimming pool. “We swam all the time, even when the water was cold,” recalls his son, Jean Louis Desjoyaux, now CEO of the company …
Jean-Louis Desjoyaux, did you really swim in the first Desjoyaux pool?
“Of course… The first Desjoyaux pool was built by my father in 1966. He was passionate about swimming! He’d just built our holiday home in Cuzieu with his own two hands, and he built the swimming pool at the same time. It was a crazy dream at the time. I was 14, my brother Pierre Louis was 10 and my sister Catherine was 8. As you can imagine, we all swam in the pool, and our friends enjoyed it too… We swam all the time, even when the water was cold.”
What did this first pool look like?
“It was already a large swimming pool, 10 metres long and 5 metres wide, with a sloping floor that went from 0.80 cm to 1.40 metres. It was entirely tiled, and the beaches were made of Burgundy stone. My father had built it according to the principle of Roman baths, with a water current that swept the bottom. Bleach was used to kill bacteria. I have to admit, it didn’t work! Until one day, Dad learned that the Souchon swimming pool in Saint-Etienne was going to be renovated. He picked up a huge sand filter and installed it in Cuzieu. And it worked. And that’s how the Desjoyaux adventure began…”.
In the sixties, having a swimming pool was a luxury…
” Ah yes, it was a luxury. Only people with very large budgets could afford a swimming pool. It was even more complicated in those days, because there were no filters. They existed in the United States, but not yet in France.”
Does this pool still exist?
” The family home in Cuzieu has been sold and the current owners still swim in the first Desjoyaux pool.”
Plus de 70 brevets déposés par l’entreprise
So there was this first pool. And others followed…
“When my father finished our swimming pool, one of his friends asked him to build him one, still in Cuzieu. He was both a friend and a neighbor… From that moment on, my father understood that a swimming pool wasn’t just concrete, coping stones and water, but that it was also, and above all, a contagious joy, a family spirit that could be shared, and that we had to cut costs so that others could afford one.”
When did your father move into the industrialization phase?
“Around the 1970s, I joined him in the company. Between 1970 and 1974, we tried out every technique and material to find the best industrial solutions. That’s what enabled us to pioneer the democratization of swimming pools in France with the Waterair group.”
What was the first patent you filed?
“The first patent was registered in 1978 for a lost resin formwork, a bit like a boat hull, which was filled with concrete to build a swimming pool. The second patent concerned the filtration system, which was mounted on the pool wall. Since then, technologies have continued to evolve, and we have registered over 70 patents.
Numéro un mondial de la piscine enterrée
Although Jean-Louis Desjoyaux is still CEO of the eponymous company, he is preparing to hand over the reins to his son Nicolas, 42. This family group, founded by Jean Desjoyaux, employs Jean-Louis’ daughter Fanny Desjoyaux as Communications and Marketing Director; Jean-Louis’ sister Catherine Jandros, in charge of sales outlets; and his daughter Marion Jandros.
Today, the Desjoyaux group is the world leader in in-ground pools, with a presence in 80 countries, 6 subsidiaries worldwide and no fewer than 200 sales outlets in France. The La Fouillouse site, with its 5-hectare workshop, employs 230 people and has a 15-hectare land reserve.
Objective: 50% export sales within 5 years
After three years of record growth, Desjoyaux recorded a slight slowdown in sales last year, in a complicated geopolitical and inflationary context. However, the group is continuing to invest, with a view to bringing certain production processes in-house and planning a plastic waste sorting center.
Desjoyaux, which generates 40% of its sales from exports, aims to reach “50% within five years”.
Jean-Louis Desjoyaux and his brother-in-law Pierre Jandros are very attached to their roots, especially in Forez, and have also invested in two wine estates, one in Chavanay and the other near Valence, in Saint-Julien-en-Saint-Alban, where they produce Condrieu, Côte-Rôtie, Cornas, Saint-Joseph, Côtes-du-Rhône and Viognier.
Article published in le progrès
Journalist: Frédéric Paillas