WHEN THE WATER DROP DECANTER
100 years of manufacturing in Wingen-sur-mode 1922 - 2022
Since 1922, Lalique’s creations have been produced in Wingen-sur-moder, in the heart of the Northern Vosges, in a lush green setting beside a village of some 1600 souls. It is here that the glittering material crystallizes in a continuous ballet of fire that has been orchestrated by generations of expert hands. The first furnace in the factory established in Wingen-sur-moder by Ren Lalique, the company founder, was lit one hundred years ago, when France regained the Alsace region after the First World War. Ren Lalique’s glassworks in Wingen became known as the “Verrerie d’alsace (V.D.A). His dream was to bring beauty into the home. He therefore chose to manufacture utility glassware : dinner services, plates, bowls, etc. in series, but always to a high standard of quality, an attribute that was already part of the company’s signature style. After a difficult period during the Second World War and the Liberation, when the glassworks was destroyed, the company took a new direction on the initiative of Ren ’s son, Marc, with a focus on crystal and an approach inspired by a combination of innovation and tradition. Although the factory has been constantly modernized over the years – particularly since 2008, with investments in new equipment initiated by Silvio Denz, the current Chairman and CEO of Lalique SA – the artisans’ techniques have remained unchanged: material is worked by hand, it is moulded, the molten crystal is gathered like honey, and pressed or blown.
Once cooled, it is cut, sanded and polished. This is the Lalique artisans’ trademark: the famous satin-polished finish of the crystal, which generates an effect that combines light and shadow. In 2022, Lalique crystal is sparkling in all areas, from decorative objects to interior design, perfumery, art, jewellery and the hotel and restaurant industry with, among others, Villa Ren Lalique, which has given a new lease of life to the residence built by Ren Lalique in the hills above Wingen-sur-moder in 1920. To celebrate its centenary in style, the Wingen-surmoder factory will this year be producing an exceptional bottle containing a new Lalique fragrance, and a beautiful spirit decanter. ■ ■ ■