Before anything else, the Villa Majorelle was a cabinetmaker's house. Photos from the 1920s show the diversity of the stock of species in the villa's woodshed. Wood is the principal raw material in the edifice. On the ground floor, the vestibule's woodworks are in oak. They are covered with a veneer of padauk, an essence from Africa with deep red colors. Louis Majorelle also used atapa, a rare wood from Guyana, and snakewood from the Amazon. The twisted ramp he created is a masterpiece of Art Nouveau.