Art Nouveau- Rene Lalique

Rene Lalique (1860-1945)

Rene Lalique was born a 19th century man in a pre-industrialised Europe. In 1900 at 40, he was the most celebrated jeweller in the world and an art nouveau designer of magnificent proportions. By 1925 he was the most celebrated glassmaker. He brought glass into the homes of everyday people and worked on technique of mass producing his art glass objects on a scale and cost to complement the spreading industrial revolution and worldwide desire for his products.

Lalique’s great accomplishment was combining his talents; jewellery, glass and art, with foresight and innovation to not just serve markets but create them.

At the age of 16 Lalique became apprenticed to the jeweller Louis Aucoc, who was among the leading jewellers in Paris at the time, giving him perfect opportunity to learn jewellery production and design from the ground up. He designed jewellery for a relative, M. Vuilleret, while also studying under the sculpture Justin Lequien. By 1881, he was working as a freelance designer for many French jewellery firms, including Cartier and Boucheron. Lalique opened a new jewellery shop in the fashionable Opera district in Paris in 1890.

Lalique's jewellery design motif was primarily the natural world. He was influenced by the natural world of the French countryside, but also Japanese natural world art motifs as well. He incorporated a variety of materials in his jewellery including glass, horn, pearls, semi-precious stones, enamel, and ivory. Therefore his Lalique jewellery creations were not just holders for high value stones, they were artwork in their own right, creating a worldwide interest and a huge demand.

Near the end Lalique's jewellery career, he increasingly experimented with glass in both his jewellery and unique objects. Lalique created an amazing array of over 1500 glass models including ashtrays, seals - cachets, clocks, paperweights, car mascots, vases, decanters, pitchers, glasses and stemware, plates and bowls, knife rests, lamps and all manner of light fixtures, pendants, brooches, necklaces, decorative objects including statues and plaques, architectural objects including glass panels, fountains, and doors, perfume bottles, boxes, menus and menu holders, inkwells and rocker blotters (ink blotters), mirrors, frames, and a stunning variety of decorative and functional tableware. He also produced unique glass objects including the prized Cire Perdue vases and other Cire Perdue pieces so highly sought after by collectors today.

Cire Perdue glass pieces were made by carving the design into a block of wax. A plaster/clay mould was then formed ar

ound the wax and left to dry. Once the mould was dry, it would be heated to melt the wax which would be allowed to run out of the mould. Hence the name cire-perdue, which means "lost wax"! After the wax is gone, the glassmaker is left with a mould that can only be used one time, and which has the design on the inside of the mould. Molten glass is then blown in and the glass forms up against the design under pressure from the blowing. After the glass cools to the right temperature, the mould is broken open to reveal the object.