MANILA, Philippines - In 1912, at the apogee of his fame, perfumer Francois Coty set his sights on Fifth Avenue in New York. And who did he call on to design the facade of his Boutique? The master glassmaker who created the breath-taking perfume bottles for Coty: René Lalique. By that time, René Lalique’s works were daring yet still undiscovered by the public. By 1925, Paris celebrated its glory as it welcomed the International Exhibition of Decorative Arts: A monumental fountain designed by Lalique sparkled in the sky. From that moment on, he received many prestigious commissions from all around the world: an imperial Palace in Tokyo, the Peace Hotel in Shanghai, a Los Angeles structure for billionaire James Oviatt, ornamentation in the Orient-Express railway cars, and lighting in the dining room of the Normandy cruise liner. Anyone who wanted absolute luxury demanded Lalique.
Today, Lalique interiors continue to grow in relevance as part of the third millennium creations. Lalique tables blend into the most creative interior design spaces: sublime crystal in prolific magnificence. In clear and satin-finished crystal, Lalique embodies the creative genius and unique expertise of the glass masters. In order to participate in the fashioning of this exceptional artwork, a craftsman must have received the distinction of Best Craftsmen of France. In the hot glass workshops, it takes eight to ten weeks of handwork to craft one leg, for which they must pull the melted crystal from three clay pots in five successive steps. This represents two days of fusion and nine days to reheat the crystal.
In the cold glass workshops, the craftsmen carry each crystal table leg to manually touch up the imperfections: endured by more than three hours. Driven by perfection, they vigilantly focus on each minute detail of the successive steps of pulling, touching up, polishing, assembling and fusing the crystal.
Lalique is available at Rustan’s Makati and Rustan’s Shangri-La.