ENSAAMA's ancestry can be traced back to the École des Arts Appliqués à l’Industrie, which in 1856 was the first professional women's school.
This became merged with the schools of Germain Pilon and Bernad Palissy in 1925 and with the Cours Supérieur d'Esthétique Industrielle founded in 1958 by Jacques Viénot, occupying the site of the now École supérieure des arts appliqués Duperré, and of the École Nationale Supérieure des Métiers d’Art founded at the start of the 1950s, which occupied the site of the old Hôtel Salé, now the Musée Picasso.
The life of the school is organised around various disciplines (sculpture, wall decoration, ceramics, textile printing, interior architecture, visual communication, industrial aesthetics) in which recognized experts come to share their expertise: Serge Mouille directed the jewellery-making department in the 1950s, and in 1958 Roger Tallon, Georges Patrix, Denis Huisman, Jacques Fillacier, the sculpteur Stahly, the architect Paul, among others, brought the school to life with the first Industrial Aesthetics course in France.
In 2006 the school celebrated the golden jubilee of its Design section with an evening to which were invited all the alumni since its creation.
The ENSAAMA today is a public school with 710 students in post-baccalauréat education, with a diverse professional character.