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.
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 now-legendary 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.
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.
