Lalique is a French glasswear design house founded by artist, master ceramist and jeweler René Lalique. Born in the
small village of Ay in 1860, and raised in both Paris and Ay, young René developed a fascination with the natural world
which would fully express itself in later artworks. He formally studied art at College Turgot, but was forced to leave when
his father passed away. At age 12, he began an apprenticeship with a Parisian goldsmith, catching classes in the evening
when he could. He was able to further his education at Sydenham Art College in London.
He returned to England and worked as a freelance artist, while also designing jewelry for esteemed houses such as
Cartier and Boucheron, before embarking on his own business in 1885. Jewelry at the time placed an emphasis on the
quantity of precious stones in a piece, with the design being less important. Lalique changed the course of jewelry forever
with this nature-inspired pieces that depicted animals and the female form. One of the best-known (and most-plagiarized)
jewelers of the celebrated "Art Nouveau" period, Lalique eventually turned his focus from jewelry to glassware, with even
greater success.
Lalique partnered with Francois Coty to develop beautiful vessels for perfume&mash;a revolutionary concept at the time.
Perfume at the time was sold in ordinary glass vials, and the women who purchased it also had to purchase ornate and
expensive decanters for their home if they wanted to store it in a more attractive vessel. Lalique designed the nowlegendary
containers and beautiful labels for some of Coty's early successes, such as L'Effleur and Ambre Antique.
Lalique's other stroke of brilliance was in designing a manufacturing process which enabled production of the bottles on a
massive scale, thereby reducing the cost and making the product more affordable and widely available.
This new concept of marketing perfume in beautiful vessels caught on, and Lalique would go on to design bottles for
Roger & Gallet, Guerlain, Molinard, d'Orsay and Worth, among others. One of his most memorable creations is the
beautiful dove flacon for Nina Ricci's L'Air du Temps.
Glass became the medium in which Lalique concentrated his efforts for the rest of his life. Not limited to simply perfume
bottles, he also designed architectural installations and hood ornaments for luxury automobiles.
Lalique passed away in 1945, but his artistic talent was passed down through generations. Lalique's granddaughter
Marie-Claude, who was also a glass-maker, decided to create her own line of perfume in 1992, reviving her grandfather's
tradition of offering perfume in beautiful vessels. The fragrances are produced in conjunction with Art & Fragrance, and
since 1994, luxurious limited editions of the company's scents have been offered in sculptural bottles each year.
Designer Lalique has 77 perfumes in our fragrance base. The earliest edition was created in 1992 and the newest is from
2019. Lalique fragrances were made in collaboration with perfumers Michel Almairac, Mylene Alran, Beatrice Piquet, Max
Gavarry, Emilie (Bevierre) Coppermann, Jean-Claude Ellena, Raphael Haury, Bertrand Duchaufour, Christine Nagel,
Mathilde Bijaoui, Mylène Alran, Nathalie Lorson, Maurice Roucel, Dominique Ropion, Philippe Romano, Laurent Bruyere,
Richard Ibanez, Anne Flipo, Fabrice Pellegrin, Sophia Grojsman, Karine Dubreuil, Julie Masse, Ane Ayo, Alexandra
Monet, Sidonie Lancesseur, Gerard Anthony, Christiane Plos, Cecile Matton, Violaine Collas and Dorothee Piot.
