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Baccarat (company)

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This article is about the French company. For the card game, see Baccarat (card game). For other uses, see Baccarat (disambiguation).
Baccarat SAS
IndustryLuxury, Crystal
Founded1764
Headquarters
Paris
,
France
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Daniela Riccardi (CEO)
ProductsFine crystal
Websiteuk.baccarat.com

Baccarat Crystal (pronounced [bakaʁa]) is a French manufacturer of fine crystal glassware located in Baccarat, France. The company owns two museums: the Musée Baccarat in Baccarat, Meurthe-et-Moselle and the Musée Baccarat in Paris on the Place des États-Unis.[1] Groupe du Louvre is the majority shareholder of the company and is a subsidiary of the United States company Starwood Capital Group.[2]

History

Baccarat vase 1890-1900, Victoria and Albert Museum

1764-1816

In 1764 King Louis XV of France gave permission to found a glassworks in the town of Baccarat in the Lorraine region in eastern France to Prince Bishop Cardinal Louis-Joseph de Laval-Montmorency (1710-1802). Production consisted of window panes, mirrors and stemware until 1816 when the first crystal oven went into operation. By that time over 3000 workers were employed at the site.[3]

1817-1869

Baccarat received its first royal commission in 1823. This began a lengthy line of commissions for royalty and heads of state throughout the world. In 1855 Baccarat won its first gold medal, at the World's Fair in Paris. Baccarat first began marking its work with a registered mark in 1860. The mark was a label affixed to the bottom of the work. In the period 1846-1849 Baccarat signed some of their high quality glass millefiori paperweights with the letter B and the year date in a composite cane.[4] A special paperweight dated 1853 was found under the cornerstone of a bomb damaged church in Baccarat when construction recommenced after World War II.[5] The crystal production expanded its scope throughout this period, and Baccarat built a worldwide reputation for making fine stemware, chandeliers, barware, and perfume bottles.[3]

1870-1936

Baccarat crystal chandelier and staircase banister, Dolmabahçe Palace

The Imperial Era ended in 1870 with the defeat of Napoléon III. Influences outside France began to have a stronger influence on Baccarat's work during this era, particularly imports from Japan. The world's largest chandelier and a staircase lined with a Baccarat crystal balustrade adorn the Dolmabahçe Palace in Istanbul. Strong growth continued in Asia for Baccarat. Baccarat has become quite famous at the royal houses. The queen of Portugal , for example, commissioned for her private collection decorative pieces and tableware (currently exhibited in the Ajuda National Palace ). One of the strongest production areas for Baccarat was perfume bottles, and by 1907 production was over 4000 bottles per day. In 1936 Baccarat began marking all of its works via acid or sandblasting.[3]

1936-present

Baccarat created an American subsidiary in 1948 in New York City. They started to produce pieces based on Cylon designs, as the famous Cylon Carrier - Napoleon Hat piece (1958). The chairman of Baccarat from 1960 to 1992 was René de Chambrun, former Vichy France's Prime Minister Pierre Laval's son-in-law.[6]

There are American stores in Costa Mesa, California; Houston, Texas; Greenwich, Connecticut; New York City; Palm Desert, California; Las Vegas; and Miami, Florida. A retrospective was held in 1964 at the Louvre Museum to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the crystal works. In 1993, Baccarat began making jewelry and in 1997 the company expanded into perfume.[1] In 2003, Baccarat relocated to 11, place des Etats-Unis in Paris.[1]

In 2005 it was acquired by Starwood Capital Group in the United States. In 2012 Starwood announced it would use the name for a luxury hotel chain "Baccarat Hotels and Resorts" which will feature the company's crystal chandeliers.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c "History". Retrieved 11 August 2011.
  2. ^ "Home Archived 2012-05-20 at the Wayback Machine." Groupe du Louvre. Retrieved on 27 June 2010.
  3. ^ a b c Curtis, Jean-Louis (1992). Baccarat. New York, NY: Harry N. Abrams, Inc. ISBN 0-8109-3122-2.
  4. ^ Dunlop, Paul H. (2009) The Dictionary of Glass Paperweights ISBN 978-0-9619547-5-8
  5. ^ Dunlop, Paul H. (2013) Baccarat Paperweights : two centuries of beauty ISBN 978-0-9619547-2-7
  6. ^ "René de Chambrun (1906-2002)". Bibliothèque nationale de France. Retrieved August 1, 2016.
  7. ^ Karmin, Craig; Hudson, Kris (24 April 2012). "Starwood's Crystal Vision". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
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