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More about Lalique
The famous jewellery and glass manufacturer René Jules Lalique (1860-1945) received a thorough training in drawing and learned his craft from a Parisian jeweller before finally setting up his own business and developing his own designs. He was already making jewellery for various jewellers in the 1880s, including Cartier, and after a while he set up his own business and took over an arts and crafts studio. It was considered unusual at the time that he attached less importance to precious materials such as gold, pearls and gemstones and also used enamel, ivory, horn, semi-precious stones, ordinary stones and glass. His works won awards and were featured in all the major exhibitions, including Samuel Bing's shop ‘L'Art Nouveau’, where they were also sold – ‘L'Art Nouveau’ became the term used to describe the French Art Nouveau style. He also created stage jewellery for the famous actress Sarah Bernhardt.
From around 1907 onwards, Lalique produced perfume bottles for the perfumer François Coty, and later also for other leading fragrance houses of the 1920s and 1930s (Roger & Gallet, Houbigant, Molyneux, d'Orsay, Worth). From the ground up, Lalique revolutionised perfume packaging itself. This finally made it possible for larger sections of the population to afford a fragrance and a work of glass art.
Around the time of the First World War, Lalique devoted himself exclusively to glass art. After the war, he was even involved in the design of the Orient Express in the 1920s. In 1925, at the Arts and Crafts Exhibition in Paris, where he had also designed the pavilion for the Sèvres porcelain company, Lalique's works were described as ‘Art Deco’ for the first time. This was followed by the interior design of larger buildings such as the Church of St. Nicaise in Reims, the fountains on the Rond-Point des Champs-Elysées and the palace portals of Prince Asaka Yasuhiko in Tokyo. The 1930s were to be the height of his success. His vases, flacons and glass figurines were highly sought after and just as famous as the radiator mascots he designed for Bentley, Bugatti, Rolls-Royce and others. The Second World War and the German occupation brought an end to the company.
The first perfume created by the Lalique company did not appear during the founder's lifetime. In 1992, Lalique entered the perfume market for the first time with ‘Lalique Pour Femme’, and many more were to follow, which are still very popular today, not only because of their legendary and collectible bottles.