In the early 90s, the young Catherine Giraud returned home after several years in Brazil and the British Isles of Turks and Caicos. A forerunner in the field, she founded the Macumba decorating chain, which she never imagined she’d still be talking about three decades later!
Delphine Raimond
The adventuress
Thirty-two years ago, in a room in Curepipe (surrounded by trucks and dust) lent by her brother, Catherine imported clothes from Indonesia and supplied the local hotel market. Her little business was called Uluwatu, inspired by the Balinese surf spot, and lasted a year. “I used to sell fluorescent clothes and bikinis… and it worked! But I realized it wasn’t my thing! I’d always loved to hunt, to discover, to rummage through foreign craft markets… So I started at home in my backyard, setting up jars and other decorative items every morning on wooden boxes that I would bring in every evening.” (Laughs)
A visionary, Catherine opened her first store in Grand Baie in 1992, selling, among other things, African masks! Unpronounceable, Uluwatu became Macumba, and the craze for her ethnic signature was immediate! With the same energy, the founder has always dared, never giving up. If today her two children are her pillars, her staff is her family. “This amazing human adventure has made us all grow up! I launched Macumba without a penny in my pocket, and look how far we’ve come!
The committed
In 2020, Catherine discovered Ti Rodrigues, where 500 families lived in miserable conditions, with no water, electricity or garbage collection. Her big heart capsizes and pushes her ruthlessly into social support, within the NGO Mission Papillon. “I became a professional mourner to raise funds! During Covid, food packs are distributed. During Cyclone Batsirai, fifteen tin houses were put back on their feet. The island’s shelters, in a scandalously unhealthy state, were repaired, fitted out, repainted and embellished… thanks to the collective actions of volunteers and the support of Macumba. “The kids have no space, no garden. The furniture is broken, the window bars torn off… The injustice makes me sick! I recognize my good fortune, my social conditions and the immense privilege of living in paradise, so it’s only fair to give a little back!” When I approach, admiringly, her incredible energy devoted to others, I nevertheless sense a slight discouragement. “I’m a fighter, so I want them to fight too! But people in need have become fatalistic. For them, getting out of it seems so far away and difficult that it’s pointless.” Angered, Catherine deplores young people’s lack of interest in politics and the state of the country – debts, corruption, pollution… – and invites the population to take off their blinkers, to get things moving!