The child of a French silk weaver, Louisa Ogier was born in London, where she became one of the most important of the women working in the silver trade. At the age of 20 she married Samuel Courtauld, part of a veritable goldsmithing dynasty. Samuel's father, Augustin Courtauld, had been brought to England as an infant by his Huguenot (French Protestant) family as they fled religious persecution. Interestingly, Augustin was trained by another Huguenot goldsmith: Simon Pantin, whose daughter, Elizabeth Godfrey, also became a prominent goldsmith.

Courtauld and her husband had seven children and, until his death in 1765, they ran a highly successful business. Louisa continued to run the firm on her own. Several years later she took on George Cowles, their senior apprentice, as her business partner. Records show that in 1777 Courtauld's son, Samuel II, replaced Cowles in that capacity. This arrangement lasted three years, at which point they sold the business, Courtauld retired to Essex, and Samuel moved to America.

Courtauld carried on the venerable family tradition of producing high-quality silver. Her continuing success in business was due in part to her ability to change with the times. Courtauld and her husband had made their reputation with silver in the popular French rococo style. However, by the time she began working with Cowles, taste had shifted to the more restrained neoclassical approach, which her firm then produced with equal success.