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Lalique is a French glassware design house founded
by artist, master ceramist and jewellery designer
René Lalique. One of the best-known designers
of the Art Nouveau period, Lalique's glass designs
often included dancing nymphs, fish, dragonflies,
and foliage, typical of this period. His unique style
played with the contrast between clear and frosted
glass, sometimes embellished with a patina, enamel
or stained glass.
Before he started his own business in 1887, Lalique
designed jewellery for prestigious houses such as
Cartier and Boucheron. In a time when the emphasis
was on the quantity of precious stones in a jewellery
piece, Lalique, who was fascinated with the natural
world, created nature-inspired pieces depicting
animals and the female form. In 1888, he registered his
"RL" stamp and engraved the unique pieces created in
his workshop with these letters.
In the next few years, Lalique had started
experimenting with glassware, having already used
enamel and glass with gold and precious stones in
his jewellery designs. In 1907, Lalique met the famous
perfumer François Coty, and created ornate perfume
bottles for his early brands such as L'Effleur and Ambre
Antique, and developed a technique that allowed
mass production of glass bottles. By 1921, Lalique had
fully devoted himself to glassmaking, and his efforts
took him to Alsace in eastern France, which had a
strong and historic glassmaking tradition. Here he
established the Verrerie d'Alsace glassworks factory at
Wingen-sur-Moder in Alsace.
After Lalique's death in 1945, his son Marc took
over and the company transitioned from producing
its famous Lalique glass to crystal. It was named
Cristallerie Lalique in 1962, and is now the world's
only Lalique factory.
LALIQUE
(Lots 16‒19)
"Glass is a marvellous material."
RENÉ LALIQUE, 1925