The Lalique story began with René Lalique (1860-1945), a genius destined to revolutionise the world of jewelery, beginning in 1885 with his famous Art Nouveau jewelery sets, true works of art, which are now highly sought-after by museums and collectors.

A brilliant master glassmaker of the Art Déco movement, René Lalique’s creations were highly  eclectic. Indeed, it was René Lalique, who was responsible for the great technological and commercial revolution which even today continues to influence the way bottles of perfume are created and packaged.

Colette praised him as the creator of the Fontaine Merveilleuse at the Paris Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs in 1925. He was the artistic designer, amongst others, of the Pullman cars for the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits and of the first-class dining-room on the luxury ocean liner, Normandie”. He also designed and created glass doors, sculpted with winged goddesses, for the palace of the Japanese Imperial Prince, Asaka Yasuhiko, which are now in the Metropolitan Teien Art Museum, Tokyo.

He was daring enough to decorate the luxurious cars of the Roaring Twenties with glass mascots, which are highly coveted by today’s collectors and command remarkably high prices at auction.

René Lalique’s imagination has proved to be the source of a vast and varied collection, including bowls, vases, statuettes and perfume bottles. They were produced at his Combs-La-Ville workshop near Paris, and later at the Wingen-sur-Moder factory in Alsace, opened in 1922.

In the creative process, the essence of Lalique’s style was revealed in the distinctive, now-famous contrast between clear and satin-finished glass. Sometimes he would add a patina, enamel or some colour to the molten glass. Although the lines of his work were often geometrical, they were always softened into a very naturalistic perception of a plant, animal or female figure.