Baccarat is not just crystal glassware, jewelry and chandeliers. This is the amazing art of glass blowing. These are colored crystal, inlaid with gold and silver, multicolor enamel and glass engraving.
The history of the Baccarat manufactory began in 1764, after the French king Louis XV signed a permit to open a glass factory in the village of Baccarat, in Lorraine. Monsignor de Montmorency-Laval, who was granted a royal patent for glass making, got down to business with zeal, and soon the company glorified the region with luxurious mirrors and solid windows. The development of the plant, thanks to the favor of the monarch, did not interfere with anyone and nothing.
In 1816, the Belgian entrepreneur Emme-Gabriel d’Artigue became the manager of the manufactory, who installed a new furnace and began to make in it, according to a special recipe, heavy highly refractive glass – crystal. Having mastered the production of glassware, the factory decided to enter a large market and exhibited its products at the World’s Fair in 1855, receiving a gold medal as a result. Five years later, in 1860, the Baccarat trademark was officially registered.
By that time, Baccarat, as a factory, was already producing luxurious lighting fixtures, one of which was taken to Russia in 1867 by Alexander II, who attended a Paris exhibition. Stunned by the incredible elegance of the engraved rosettes on the large burgundy vases, the Emperor purchased a chandelier with 24 candlesticks as a gift to the Empress. And since then, Baccarat products have appeared annually in the residences of the Russian tsars. In addition to the Romanov family, Indian maharajas and Ottoman sultans were known as passionate admirers of French crystal, and not only dishes and lamps, but also hookahs were supplied to Constantinople.
The attention of kings is a pleasant and profitable thing, but the leaders of the manufacture understood that in order to develop and increase profits, it was necessary to expand production and make products more accessible to ordinary people. In 1841, a six-sided red wine glass called Harcourt was introduced and became the brand’s signature.
The modern Baccarat manufactory is more than 3 thousand items of crystal products, a unique artistic style and unusually fragile glass poetry. Factory managers are not afraid of experiments – Patricia Urquiola, Marcel Wanders, Jaime Ayon managed to work with Baccarat. The elegance of black and white candlesticks created in collaboration with Kenzo, the audacity of black glasses and glasses from Philippe Starck, and the charm of bottles for Nina Ricci are surprising.
Baccarat products
