The History Behind The Daum Glass And Crystal Company…
The world famous Daum company owes its origins to its founder Jean Daum. Jean was born in Alsace a small region of eastern France located near to the German and Swiss borders but had to flee his homeland during the French-Prussian War of 1870 – 71. After moving around for a while Jean Daum and his family settled in Nancy the capital town of the French region of Lorraine, hence the Lorraine cross being part of the Daum glass trademark.
It was in Nancy where Jean Daum came in contact with a group of budding industrialists, who wanted to start a glassworks called “Verrerie Sainte Catherine” in 1875, later to be renamed “Verrerie de Nancy”. The Verrerie Sainte Catherine Company originally specialised in watch glasses, window glass, and glassware for taverns, but ran into financial difficulties in 1876 where Jean Daum decided to withdraw his support for the company. Unfortunately, due to the financial problems the company was suffering the other investors could not afford to pay Jean Daum back his initial investment so he decided to take over the whole glassworks in lieu of payment.
In 1878 “Verrerie de Nancy” was born and Jean Daum went into business as a glass maker. It was a desperate move, and Jean quickly discovered that it was hard to make a living manufacturing watch glasses and glassware for taverns. His son Auguste Daum, who was previously studying law joined him in1879, to help improve the business. Auguste Daum had a strong financial insight and realized that working with a more refined glass product would be the way forward.
After Jean Daum’s death in 1885 Auguste Daum took over the control of the company and his younger brother Antonin Daum joined the company in 1890. It was their business and creative skills which made the “Verrerie de Nancy” a success. By the late 1880s, an ambitious Auguste Daum had made commercial drinking glasses the glassworks main source of income and also served as a platform to launch their line of ‘self-defence’ tavern glasses known as the ‘Handsome Tavern Glass” which was heavy enough and thick enough at the base to be used as a self-defence weapon.
The Daum brothers (Daum Frères as they were known) exhibited their “Handsome Tavern Glass” at the Paris International Exhibition in 1889, an event that was significant in the birth of the French Art Nouveau movement and where the Daum Brothers were impressed and influenced by the art glass work of Emile Galle.
Daum Glass And Crystal In The Early 1900′s
From the early 1900′s the emphasis of the Daum glassworks changed to the production of glass art objects and pioneering new glass techniques in the emerging Art Nouveau styles and its nature inspired overtones marked the first stage in Daums production of ‘purely’ decorative glass objects. During the Universal Exhibition of 1900 Daum was awarded a ‘Grand Prix’ medal. Daum glass became more elaborate, acid etching (by Jacques Gruber) was often combined with carving, enamelling and engraving on a single piece of glass to produce creative master-pieces. The most complicated creations also feature applied glass elements, such as handles or ornamental motifs in naturalistic forms. The Daum brothers quickly moved on to become one of the major forces in the art nouveau movement, seriously rivalling Galle, so much so that when Galle died in 1904 they became the leaders in the field of decorative glass.
In 1906, Daum began the manufacture of pâte-de-verre, a glass-making technique first used over 5000 years ago in the ancient world. Pâte de verre fell out of use for several thousand years and was even forgotten. It was not until the late nineteenth century that this glass making technique was “rediscovered” and used by the sculptor Henri Cross for the benefit of Daum. Pâte-de-verre which literally translates into ‘glass paste’ consists of coloured glass which has been ground into a fine powder and mixed with a fusing agent to form a paste. The paste can then be pressed into hollow moulds or sculpted like clay, and when several colours are mixed, the fired result has a ‘mottled like’ appearance. Daum is the only crystal manufacturer in the world able to create these outstanding works of art with an output that can meet today’s insatiable appetite for art glass sculptures and vases. Daum Glass is undoubtedly the most artistic brand of luxury glass and crystal. From fruit bowls to perfume bottles or life-like animal sculptures and figurines Daum glass not only produces mesmerizing works of glass art but they will stand the test of time. With more than 350 designers and artists stamping their mark on the Daum brand it is no wonder than these elegant pieces still hold value today.
The Daum glassworks stopped producing fine art glass during the Great War (WW1), instead they produced medical glass. During the mid-1920′s, attitudes and tastes changed, and the Daum brothers gradually phased out their Art Nouveau style glass and embraced the new style of the Art Deco movement. They continued making art nouveau designs when the factory re-opened after the First World War (1918). But by this stage fashions had changed. Daum gradually phased out their Art Nouveau style glass and embraced the new style of the Art Deco movement, the days of flowers, delicate colors, and free-flowing lines gave way to a new wave of simpler, bolder, designs. Art deco designs were coming into vogue and new recruit Paul Daum (son of Auguste) led the charge. Collectors refer to two categories of older Daum glass, the Art Nouveau style, made before the 1920s, and the Art Deco style, made between World War I and World War II.