René Lalique: Art Nouveau Jeweller and Glassmaker

René Lalique was the greatest jeweller of the Art Nouveau, and then, remarkably, the greatest glassmaker of Art Deco. His jewels of the 1890s and 1900s, in gold, enamel, glass and horn, changed what jewellery could be: not a setting for precious stones, but a work of art.

Early years

Lalique was born in 1860 in Aÿ, in the Champagne region. He was apprenticed to the Paris jeweller Louis Aucoc, studied in London for two years, and then designed for leading Paris houses before opening his own workshop in the late 1880s.

The Art Nouveau revolution

Lalique’s jewels broke every rule. He chose materials for their beauty, not their value: horn, glass, enamel, opal and moonstone, with diamonds used only where they helped the design. His subjects were dragonflies, peacocks, orchids, women transforming into insects and flowers. At the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1900 his display made him world-famous, and his great patron, Calouste Gulbenkian, formed a collection of his jewels that can still be seen in Lisbon.

Lalique made the rest of Art Nouveau look timid. Everything we love about the jewellery of that period, the enamel, the horn, the sheer nerve, he did first.
Olly Gerrish, AJC Founder

From jewels to glass

From around 1907, Lalique turned increasingly to glass, beginning with perfume bottles for François Coty. By the 1920s he had largely stopped making jewellery and become the most famous glassmaker in the world.

Art Deco

In the Art Deco years his glass was everywhere: vases, lighting, architectural panels for ocean liners and even car mascots. His designs became more stylised and geometric, and his glass jewellery, pendants and brooches, brought his work to a far wider public.

The legacy

Lalique died in 1945. His original Art Nouveau jewels are museum pieces and rarely come to market; the firm that bears his name still makes glass today.

Our view

Lalique’s own jewels are out of reach for most collectors, but his influence runs through all Art Nouveau jewellery: horn, enamel, moonstone and flowing gold. See our Art Nouveau jewellery for pieces in that spirit.