René Lalique

René Jules Lalique (; 6 April 1860 – 1 May 1945) was a French jeweller, medallist, and glass designer known for his creations of glass art, perfume bottles, vases, jewellery, chandeliers, clocks, and automobile hood ornaments.

Early life and education Lalique was born 6 April 1860 in Aÿ, Marne, France, one of two children, to Auguste Jules Lalique (1831–1875), a traveling peddler, and Olympe Lalique (née Berthellemy; 1835–1906). The family relocated to Paris in 1862.

His early life was spent learning the methods of design and art he would use in his later life. At the age of two, his family moved to the suburbs of Paris, but traveled to Aÿ for summer holidays. These trips influenced Lalique later on in his naturalistic glasswork. thumb Tomb of Lalique (and of his wife Alice and son Marc) in the Père Lachaise Cemetery, ParisIn 1872, when he was twelve, René entered the Collège Turgot, where he started drawing and sketching. He attended evening classes at the Ecole des arts décoratifs. He worked there from 1874 to 1876 and subsequently spent two years at the Crystal Palace School of Art Sydenham, London. During that time, he also practised as an apprentice goldsmith to leading Parisian Art Nouveau jeweller and goldsmith Louis Aucoc. At the Sydenham Art College, his skills for graphic design were improved, and his naturalistic approach to art was further developed. Aucoc was among the leading jewelers working in Paris at the time, and this provided the young René Lalique with an excellent opportunity to learn jewelry production and design. During this time, Lalique also studied at the Ecole des Arts Decoratifs in Paris.

Professional career By 1881, Lalique worked as a freelance designer for several French jewelry firms, including Cartier and Boucheron. In 1886, he started working in his workshop in Paris, in the former workshop of Jules Destape. In 1890, René Lalique opened a jewelry store in the Opéra district of Paris. While working in this new shop, some of René Lalique's most famous jewelry designs were created, as well as his experimentation and use of glass.

The main motif of Lalique's jewelry design was the natural world. His designs often featured motifs such as dragonflies, orchids, and peacocks, crafted using a combination of enamel, gemstones, and semi-precious materials. Lalique surrounded himself at work with flowers to serve as subtle inspiration for his art. These motifs symbolized the organic flow of life, metamorphosis, and beauty in motion. He also incorporated Japanese nature motifs into his art, and used materials that were uncommon in jewelry at the time, including glass, horn, and enamel.

Art Nouveau jewellery designer When he returned from England, he worked as a freelance artist, designing pieces of jewellery for French jewelers Cartier, Boucheron, and others. In 1885, he opened his own business, designed and made his own jewellery and other glass pieces. After 1895, Lalique also created pieces for Samuel Bing's Paris shop, the Maison de l'Art Nouveau, which gave Art Nouveau its name. One of Lalique's major patrons was Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian, who commissioned more than 140 of his works over nearly 30 years. Many of these works can be seen on permanent display at the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon, Portugal.

Glass maker Lalique was best known for his creations in glass art. As part of the Art Nouveau style, many of his jewellery pieces and vases showcase plants, flowers and flowing lines.

In 1907, Lalique began collaborating with François Coty to design luxury perfume bottles.

Lalique was also a pioneer in the use of 'pâte-de-verre,' an ancient glassworking technique, which he used to mold ground glass into intricate, lifelike forms in both jewelry and decorative objects.

Both unique and commercial works of René Lalique are in the collections of a large number of public museums around the world including the Museu Calouste Gulbenkian in Lisbon, the Lalique Museum of Hakone in Japan, the and the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in France, the in Germany, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Metropolitan Museum and the Corning Museum in New York State, and the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Marc's daughter, Marie Claude-Lalique (b. 1936), was also a glass maker who died on 14 April 2003 in Fort Myers, Florida.