You can enjoy the crystal splendor, see with your own eyes the wonderful masterpieces of Daum, as well as purchase them and replenish your personal collection of elegant and unique products in Gold Palace and Villeroy & Boch boutiques in Ashgabat.
As it is known, the Daum brand is not just decorative items, but also art objects of artistic value for museums and all connoisseurs of beauty. Modern products of the House of Nancy are produced in small batches, made to order and dispersed in private collections.
The history of the French crystal brand Daum began in 1878 in Nancy. Jean Dom opens a glass workshop here, which later, thanks to his sons Louis-Augustin and Antonin, turns into the famous, revered Daum Nancy glassworks. In 1891, in the creative union of the Dom brothers, Louis Majorelle, the artists Victor Prouvé and Emile Galle, the Art Nouveau style was born in France, which was later used not only in architecture and interior design, but also in clothing and accessories.
In 1900, at the universal Paris Exhibition, which officially recognized the beginning of the new Art Nouveau style, Daum's works received the Grand Prix and became public favorites. For the first time, electric lamps with lampshades made of laminated painted glass, presented here, made a splash. The products were distinguished by the beauty and elegance of color, shapes, unusual texture and the use of floral ornaments.
A year later, the talented community recruited the architect Eugène Vallin and organized the “School of Nancy”. It is no coincidence that the artist and glassmaker Emile Galle became the president of the Nancy School, and Antonin Dom became the vice-president. After all, the secret of the House of Nancy's success lay precisely in the ability to attract talented people for whom the creative process, inspiration, and flight of fancy are important, captivating the townsfolk with the uniqueness of shapes and colors. Emile Galle was just such a creative madman. His vases with bright patterns and whimsical curves in the Art Nouveau style captivate the eye. By the way, he made items of luxury class or made by individual orders of famous people with his own hands.
After the death of Galle in 1904, Antonin became the head of the association of artists, and his factory by that time was the leading and largest glass enterprise in Lorraine. For the next decade, glass masterpieces became the property of private collections, and today they are sold at auctions for a fabulous price. For example, the Daum glass table lamp, created in collaboration with the eminent designer Louis Majorelle, was sold in 1989 at Sotheby's for 1 760 000 USD.
Daum products of these years are considered reference examples of Art Nouveau style. They are characterized by a combination of three or four layers of glass and painting with colored enamels, as well as techniques such as etching and engraving. The main motifs of landscape decoration are images of flowers and plants. In the 1920s, the factory makes vases, lamps and bottles in the Art Deco style, with more geometric stylized ornaments and powerful forms than before. At the famous Paris exhibition of decorative arts in 1925, which gave the name art deco to the whole movement, Daum participates out of competition, and Antonin Dom is a member of the jury.
In the 1930s, Daum won the competition and became the supplier of dishes for the legendary transatlantic liner “Normandie”.
In 1968, Daum revived the ancient pâte de verre technique, the so-called glass pastry, which soon became the hallmark of the brand.
The essence of the method, which goes back to ancient Egyptian art, is that pieces of colored glass and crystal are baked inside a refractory mold, exactly repeating its shape. This gives an amazing texture and permits you to achieve complex and always different color transitions. The crystal turns out to be dense, not completely transparent, heavy, stone-like - bright and glowing from the inside. Today it is the main method of production and a hallmark of Daum.
At the same time, the great-grandson of the founder of the factory, Jacques House, decided to invite famous artists to cooperate. One of the first was Salvador Dali. In addition to him, famous sculptors and artists collaborated with Daum in those years: Picasso, Arman, Cesar, Cocteau, Dan Dailey, Lalanne, Mitorai. And today Philippe Starck, Hilton McConnico, Richard Orlinsky, Christophe Pilet, Emilio Robba, Jean-Louis Sava, Christian Guyon, Patrick Villas have joined them.
The catalog of the factory is updated every year with new products. In addition to the author's sculptures, Daum has been famous throughout its history for vases and figurines, which reflect the motifs of nature, mythological scenes, as well as animal figurines. Such collections as “Roses”, “Nature”, “Narcissus”, “Mimosa”, “Butterfly”, “Iris” have become classics for all time. Figurine “Water Lily” by the artist and sculptor Marie-Paul Deville-Chabrol, meditative abstraction La Foule (“Crowd”) - the work of the sculptor Laurence Bonnel, vase-bouquet of white frosted crystal Rose Passion (“Pink Passion”), large vase Cavalcade, a dynamic composition depicting rushing horses with fluttering manes, and, finally, the sculpture-toy “Bright Pink Bear Cub”, created by artist Serge Manso, does not leave anyone without a smile - all these and many other works of art are released only limited edition and have long been coveted objects for collectors around the world.
Today, Daum is the only brand in the world that produces crystal products using precision casting technology, which makes each creation unique. Daum is very popular among art connoisseurs and collectors of vintage crystal and glass sculptures. More than 600 Daum pieces are in the Musée des Beaux-Arts of Nancy in France.
Daum masterpieces are a good investment. Now Ashgabat residents and guests of the Turkmen capital can become the owners of these exquisite and unique crystal products.
Let us remind that Gold Palace and Villeroy & Boch boutiques are located in the “Berkarar” shopping center.
