Janine Janet was born in 1913 on the island of Reunion. She spent her early years surrounded by an exotic and lush nature that forever marked her mind and inspired her entire work.
 After attending the School of Fine Arts in Toulouse and Paris, she settled permanently in the capital to study at the School of Decorative Arts. She thus mixed the imagination of her childhood with a classical training. 
 In the early 1940s, she created a few models for the publisher Pierre Frey and for the Christofle company, then directed by Jean-Charles Moreux. It was during this period that she began to work with ceramics, metal and fabric.
 In 1949, she married the figurative painter Jean-Claude Janet who helped her develop her talents for painting and watercolor.

But it was not until 1952 that her career really took off thanks to the birth of a very close relationship with the fashion designer Cristóbal Balenciaga.
This friendship and their talent, allowed her to stage – until the early 80s – the displays of the great designers of the golden age of haute couture: Hubert de Givenchy, Pierre Balmain, Pierre Cardin, Christian Dior, Nina Ricci, …
They are seduced by her dreamlike style and his inspiration which plunges us into mythology. Her metamorphic decorations are made of fauns, nymphs, mermaids, naiads, odalisques, unicorns and other fabulous animals. They are made of wood or bronze, adorned with nails, straw, shells, mother of pearl, coral or glass. She thus creates a mixed universe, a mixture both chimerical and enchanting. 

Janine Janet is part of a modern baroque, which appeared in the 1930s, in reaction to an avant-garde movement that had become too academic. Jean Cocteau, struck by her imagination, entrusted her, in 1959, with the creation of the costumes, masks and sculptures for his last film “Le Testament d’Orphée”.

At the same time, she took part in many interior design projects for famous clients: Francine Weisweiller, Paul-Louis Weiller, Prince Ali Khan, Ludmilla Tcherina,… But also Jean Marais, for whom she designed a deer – originally designed for Balenciaga – intended to keep a watchful eye on the portrait of the love of his life, Jean Cocteau.
This king of the forest is identical to the large model ordered in 1967 by the Museum of Hunting and Nature.

She received the insignia of Chevalier des Arts et Lettres in 1988.