René Jules Lalique started his professional career as an apprentice of a Parisian jeweller. He had been drawing since childhood and was not going to stop this activity. Soon he brought several sketches of jewellery to the artist who taught him. They were strange, very strange as no one made them and, naturally, nobody wore them. The maestro wanted to refuse the hapless artist, but there was something in the young man's drawings that sunk into the soul of the jeweller — some special, incomprehensible subtlety and elegance of style. I must note that the drawings by Rene Lalique made an indelible impression on many people, in his works of romance and naivety surprisingly coexisted with audacity and epatage.

In general, the jeweller took a chance to make several brooches and scallops upon the sketches of the young man. You know, he never regretted it, because these little things made a splash instantly and, as it turned out, conquering women's hearts forever. For some time Lalique continued to be in obscurity and provided famous colleagues with extravagant sketches. However, glory run ahead of him and after a while he started to work independently, opening his own workshop and a small boutique in the center of Paris. Since then, the jewellery that came out of his studio, became a standard of taste, charm and elite.

In 1885, Lalique opened his own studio. There he was able to show all his talents, because in addition to graphics, design, and jewellery, he could make sculptures, ceramics, he could work with enamels, glazes and painted on glass.
Lalique brought his wildest ideas to life and experimented with non-standard materials. The eminent jewellers in Paris had enough spirit to take fantastic sketches of the young artist to work with, but they could not combine gold and diamonds with inexpensive materials. Lalique allowed himself everything! He was inspired by the spirit of the emerging Art Nouveau, was one of the founders of it and was its faithful adept. He sought to convey the most expressive beauty of nature, its plastics and grace, luxury textures, rich colors and shades. He did not hesitate to use everything that helped him to achieve maximum effect in his work. He used ivory, horn, turtle shell, mother-of-pearl, crystal, pearls, enamel, inexpensive ornamental stones...

Rene Lalique`s imagination had no restrictions and prohibitions. In 1889, Rene Lalique exhibited a selection of unusual jewellery at the Salon du Champ de Mars in Paris, critics were skeptical and predicted Rene to be famous only in narrow circles. Oh, how wrong they were! The audience was delighted with extraordinary imagination of the young artist, virtuoso craftsmanship, amazing taste and unique designer style and enthusiastically gave Franks for his work.

Commercial success allowed Rene Lalique to hire 20 artisans. Then he could get engaged with jewellery design completely and search for new unusual moves and visual solutions. It was during those years when he met the Muse of French Art Nouveau, who inspired many artists of that era. Gorgeous Sarah Bernhardt offered Rene to create accessories for her stage costumes. Of course he accepted the offer. Jewels for brilliant Sarah had to become special and Lalique began to experiment with glass, using its fantastic features to convey color nuances, shapes and volume. That was the starting point when Lalique`s unique style began to form.

Rene Lalique was a bold innovator, he was not stopped by the fears of venerable jewellers or unflattering reviews of critics, so it was not surprising that chic and extravagant Sarah Bernhardt easily spurred the artist to continue experiments with both materials and forms. Following elegant plants and flowers in Lalique's works, first images of moss and rhizomes, thistles and bare tree branches appeared, then images of insects and reptiles, and then, scary to say, naked women!

It was impossible, awful and indecent. But Lalique did not pay attention to appearances. He was outrageous, tranquil and invulnerable — for the narrow-minded gossip, for skeptical and sarcastic comments made by colleagues or critics.
In 1895, Lalique again exhibited a collection of jewellery in the Salon du Champ de Mars. That time he presented jewellery, for which he used the horn of Indian and South American Buffalo. Then not only the public, but also critics gasped with admiration, because the work was breathtakingly beautiful, incomparable. In a couple of years Lalique received his first prize for the horn and ivory hair comb, and a little later the Legion of Honor decoration for the furor he produced by the new jewellery collection at the Brussels jewellery exhibition.

Meanwhile, Rene was constantly creating and his imagination began to impact fashion of that time greatly. The end of the 19th century was very conservative and the women's attire allowed no frivolity: long sleeve, blank collar, covering the neck to the chin, no neck or, horror of horrors, open back. Lalique wanted to emphasize the beauty of a female body, his jewellery looked much more spectacular on open skin, and not on fabric, even on expensive one.

Women were eager to wear Lalique's masterpieces, and what a woman wanted, God wanted! Designers began to open the neckline of the dress, shorten the sleeve, open the back slowly. After a while, from the former Puritanism there was no trace left — open, light dresses, decorated with spectacular embroidery and bright drawings in the style of the inimitable and enchanting Art Nouveau, broke free.