Remembering Rene Jules Lalique, the man who revolutionized the glass art industry

Rene Jules Lalique, a French jeweler and glass designer well known for his creations of glass art, perfume bottles, vases and automobile hood ornaments, was born on 6^th April, 1860. His glass creations had a significant contribution to the Art Nouveau movement in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries.

Trained at the School of Decorative Arts, Paris and in London (1878-80) he founded the Verrerie d’Alsace glassworks at Wingen-sur-Model in Alsace in 1929 with a strong and historic glassmaking tradition. Thereon he collaborated with perfumer Francois Coty in making attractive perfume bottles of glass that revolutionized the perfume industry. He finally started working more on glass designs and devoted himself entirely to more industrial techniques of glass production.

In 1920, Lalique was renowned particularly for the radiator caps he designed and produced for cars. A major example of his talent is the Sources de France (Springs of France) fountain he produced for 1925 Exposition des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes in Paris. A 15-metre-high luminous glass fountain symbolizing the springs, streams and rivers of France. The fountain comprised seventeen stages and featured one hundred and twenty-eight caryatids of glass.

An exceptional artist who took full advantage of everything he had in his era to contribute to his glass art and his business died on 1^st May, 1945.