LE CHAT DE MARS is a Marseille-based creative studio founded in spring 2025 by Kaori Mitsushima, from Japan, and Maxime Cousseran, from France. For over a decade, we worked independently, creating illustrations, patterns, and graphic designs for a variety of clients, primarily in the fashion industry. LE CHAT DE MARS was born out of inspired conversations about starting a creative space together—a place where we could focus on working side by side, especially on pattern designs and crafting paper goods with illustrations designed to bring joy and smiles to everyone.
In December 2024, we launched a set of holiday and winter-themed greeting cards to participate in a small Christmas market at a friend’s ceramic studio in Paris. Watching each person—from children to adults—choose their favorite card from our collection and leave with a big smile was incredibly rewarding. This experience gave us confidence to move forward with LE CHAT DE MARS.
Looking ahead, we plan to release pattern designs as well as a collection of greeting cards for each season while gradually expanding our designs to include other paper goods, such as calendars and notebooks.
The Cat of Marseille
Lastly, our name, LE CHAT DE MARS, is a play on words inspired by Kaori's love of cats. It may remind you of the Parisian park Le Champ de Mars, but our version adds a playful twist with "The Cat". Here, "Mars" doesn't refer to the planet, but to Marseille, our current home. Essentially, it translates to "The Cat of Marseille".
LE CHAT DE MARS is ‘The Cat’ that sneaks into your day, bringing lightness and warmth to your hands and heart, as it smiles upon you and your loved ones.