Art Deco Crystal Lamp by Jacques Adnet for Bacarrat, 1940s

Born in 1900 in the region of Bourgogne, Jacques Adnet was a French architect and interior designer who defined himself as “innovative and classic; the champion of a tradition looking into the future.” Although he’s most often associated with the Art Deco style, Adnet’s commitment to functionalist principles and his propensity for pared back forms positions his work under the modernist umbrella as well. Other stylistic terms applied to Adnet’s work include “streamline modern” and “machinisme.” In his lifetime, he was considered to be one of France’s foremost avant-garde design geniuses.

Together with his twin brother Jean, Adnet trained at Paris’s École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs, starting in 1916. After World War I, in the early 1920s, the brothers worked together for Maurice Dufrène at La Maitrise, the workshop of Les Galeries Lafayette department store. Around the same time, they set up their own design firm, JJ Adnet.

In 1925, JJ Adnet presented furniture and lighting at the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes—the landmark event that gave us the term Art Deco—and the brothers’ careers began to take off. The following year, they were commissioned to design the salle commune of the Ile-de-France ocean liner.

In 1927, the brothers’ paths diverged: Jean was appointed artistic director of Les Galeries Lafayette; Jacques took the role of design director for Süe et Mare’s Compagnie des Arts Français (CAF)—a position he would hold, with great acclaim, until 1959.

During his time at CAF, Adnet gathered around him a team of artists, ceramists, coppersmiths, and designers who shared similar approaches; notable collaborators included Francis Jourdain, Georges Jouve, Serge Mouille, Alexandre Noll, and Charlotte Perriand. In the 1930s, Jacques’s work took on increasingly modernist characteristics, including the use of tubular steel, lightweight forms, and minimal ornamentation—even as he continued to embrace lux materials like leather, rosewood, and brass.

In 1948, Adnet became the President of Le Salon des Artistes Décorateurs. Also in the late ’40s, he began a decade long relationship with Hermès, designing high-end, leather-clad furniture. When the La Compagnie des Arts Français closed in 1959, Adnet became the director of the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs. 

Adnet’s standout designs include his Quadro VII Lamp (1929), which went into production in Italy only in the late 20th century, and his Circulaire Mirror (1950), originally produced by Hermès and now produced by Gubi. Adnet’s high-profile interiors projects, created between the late 1940s and late 1950s, include the renovation of French President Vincent Auriol’s private apartments at the Palais de l’Elysée and spaces in Chateau de Rambouillet, Rivera Casino owner Frank Jay Gould's house, French actress Alice Cocea's apartment, Paris’s UNESCO headquarters, and a number of luxury ocean liners. 

Jacques Adnet passed away in 1984.

With a legacy of world-class crystal craftsmanship that spans more than 250 years, Baccarat remains among the leading glass manufacturers today, producing everything from tableware and decorative accessories to lighting and jewelry.

In 1764, King Louis XV granted permission to Prince Bishop Cardinal Louis-Joseph de Laval-Montmorency (1710-1802)—who petitioned on behalf of Antoine Renaut—to establish a glass factory in the French village of Baccarat. Verrerie Renaut et Cie, as the factory was then known, aimed to produce glass that could rival the famous products of Bohemia. Notably, it was the first non-nobleman operated glassworks in France.

During the early years, the glassworks mainly produced flat glass for window panes and mirrors, as well as stemware. While the company survived two wars, the French Revolution in 1789, and the Napoleonic Wars from 1812 to 1815, it was bought by a Belgian manufacturer of lead crystal in 1817 and the name was changed to Voneche-Baccarat. In 1822, the glassworks was sold once more and eventually became known as Compagnie des Cristalleries de Baccarat (keeping Voneche as part of the name until 1843).  One year later, in 1823, the company received its first royal commission. This would eventually lead to a long succession of royal commissions—from the queen of Portugal to Czar Nicholas II and Czarina Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia—paving the way for the company to become the foremost glassworks in France. 

In 1841, the Harcourt Service was first introduced. Inspired by a chalice that French King Louis-Philippe commissioned in 1840, the service is one of the company’s most iconic collections today.  Shortly after the company began producing crystal glass paperweights in 1846, which have become favorites among collectors.

During the 1920s and 1930s, Baccarat modernized its look with pieces like the Paraison Collection, commissioned in 1933 for the Maharajah of Indore’s Manik Bagh Art Deco palace, and monogrammed glasses from the François Villon Collection, commissioned in 1936 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. 

Over the years, Baccarat has collected a number of awards and medals including a gold medal at an international exposition for glass in 1823 and a gold medal at the World’s Fair in Paris in 1855. Today, Baccarat boasts the highest number of award-winning "Best Craftsmen" in France. To put this into perspective, it takes a Baccarat master fifteen years to master the craft of sculpting crystal. The Baccarat catalog spans 2,500 products including crystal tableware, jewelry, lamps, vases, carafes, decorative pieces, and home fittings. In addition to luxury goods, Baccarat produces glass for mining lamps for the coal mining operations of Charbonnages de France. The company is also known for pioneering the incorporation of computer-aided design and manufacturing techniques into their production methods.  

In 1964, the Louvre held a retrospective celebrating the company's 200th anniversary. In 2003, the company relocated to the former residence of artist Marie-Laure de Noailles on Place des Etats-Unis in Paris, giving designer Philippe Starck carte blanche to design the interior. The company currently owns two museums, one of which is in Baccarat and another in Paris in their showroom. To mark the company’s 250th anniversary in 2014, 500 pieces from Baccarat’s historic collection were exhibited at Baccarat: The Legend of Crystal in the Petit Palais at the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Paris.