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ART & DESIGN

THE LALIQUE INTERIOR DESIGN STUDIO HAS CREATED A CRYSTAL PANEL, ORNAMENTED WITH THE HOUSE’S ICONIC MERLES & RAISINS MOTIF, IMMEDIATELY IMMERSING ANY VISITOR STEPPING INTO 30, RUE DE PRONY IN LALIQUE’S ART OF LIVING.

Make way for Art Nouveau and Art Deco! The Paris Opera’s Director entrusted the interior and exterior restoration work to the architects Fournier de Saint-Maur and H. A. Barberis. The sculptor William Lemitt lined the space under the eaves with a frieze of pine needles and cones against a background of hortensias, oak leaves, laurel and bindweed that has lost none of its appeal. And the up-and-coming wrought-iron artist Edgar Brandt sent vines of spindly leaves running up the doors and along the window frames. Some of the period’s most celebrated artists brought their own touches to the ensemble: Maurice Denis painted panels and planned out stained-glass windows, while Georges Rouault, Maurice Dufrêne and many others made vital contributions (today lost) to the residence. Its star feature is the music room boasting a seven-metre ceiling, where aristocrats and bankers enjoyed

THE RADIANT STORY OF THIS OCTAGONAL PAVILION, TAILORED BY JACQUES ROUCHÉ, DATES BACK TO 1876.

B undled up in fur coats and felt hats against the cold on this day in 1917, the ballet dancer Serge Diaghilev, the composer Igor Stravinsky and the pianist Misia Sert, stars of the Russian constellation that lit up Parisian theatres and concert halls from about 1900, encircle Jacques Rouché and his wife Berthe, smiling for a photo in the garden of a Plaine Monceau townhouse. A lively dinner, chronicled by André Gide, also took place at this very place, bringing together the poets Gabriele d’Annunzio, André Suarès and Henri de Régnier. Welcome to the home of Jacques Rouché, Director of the Paris Opera! Lalique’s new headquarters at the heart of the French capital was a temple of art and high society in the first decades of the 20th century. If its walls could talk, 30, rue de Prony would perhaps recount conversations between Pablo Picasso, Jean Cocteau, Louis Jouvet, Colette and Maurice Ravel, to name just a few. Lalique’s Paris-based head office employees began working at this beautiful new address, a few steps from the Parc Monceau’s main entrance, in September 2023. Once inside the sunlit vestibule, it is clear that Jacques Rouché’s spirit still lingers, and that the interiors are suffused with the soul

of René Lalique. In the early 1900s, the walls were festooned with flowers and leaves sculpted following designs by René Lalique and covered with sheets of glass, gracing them with “the most delicate light imaginable” at night, in the words of a 1908 observer. More than a century later, in homage to this luminous decoration, the Lalique Interior Design Studio has created a crystal panel, ornamented with the House’s iconic Merles & Raisins motif, immediately immersing any visitor stepping into 30, rue de Prony in Lalique’s art of living. The radiant story of this octagonal pavilion, tailored by Rouché, dates back to 1876, when it was offered as a gift by the Duke of Aumale to his protégée, the actress and courtesan Léonide Leblanc. In 1905, Rouché, who had nurtured a passion for theatre and politics from a young age and became a great patron of the arts, fell for this neo-Louis XIII townhouse at first sight. Seeking out the period’s best artists and designers for its decoration, this modern man, who had become the wealthy owner of L.T. Piver Perfumes upon his marriage to Berthe Piver in 1893, made their new home into a showcase for contemporary style.

recitals organized by Rouché and gathered afterwards in the smoking room decorated with pastels by Georges Desvallières. At Rouché’s request, René Lalique also added his stamp: apart from the vestibule decoration, the master glassmaker occupied a place of honour in the dining room with a chandelier that had been presented at the 1905 Salon, ornamented with a design of dragonflies and large scarab beetles. Two series of Blé sconces, with three to six arms, illuminated Rouché’s magnificent abode, their memory evoked today by the Coutard sconces installed by the Lalique Interior Design Studio. Gilt bronze handles on the doors and windows echoed this same wheat-sheaf motif, only one of which has miraculously stood the test of time.

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