Sandra‘s Closet

This week during Maison & Objet Salon in Paris, Lalique and Steinway have announced the launch of Masque de Femme, a new piano – a work of unique and customized art – designed by the famous French crystal maker.

Nature’s beauty and structure have always informed great design. Lalique worked on an elegant design for Masque de Femme focusing on two of its iconic motifs, ‘Coutard’ and ‘Masque de Femme’.

The Coutard design was created by René Lalique in 1935 for the famous Coutard fountain and represents a geometric motif of water droplets evoking both the Art Nouveau and Art Deco genres through restrained symmetry and shape. To adorn the same fountain, René Lalique created the Masque de Femme pattern inspired by his love of women and nature. This design is a classic and avant-garde work of art that reveals the face of the mysterious nymph, Arethusa surrounded by aquatic life.

In total, 1043 individual Lalique crystals adorn the Masque de Femme piano: – 1025 black crystal Coutard cabochons – 2 Masque de Femme panels: 80×80 mm – 2 Masque de Femme panels: 30×30 mm – 2 Swallow panels – 12 Coutard panels (4 on each leg of the piano).

To make an instrument that combines the best of Steinway & Sons and Lalique, its artisans had to be extremely meticulous. Requiring two years of development to perfect the exact techniques needed to ally the crystal and traditional materials of Steinway, this piano took over 500 hours of work to install the crystal elements alone.

Each Coutard cabochon perfectly blends with the piano, like drops of water that come alive on the black lacquer with an elegantly restrained tactile quality. Each crystal has been worked, shaped, cut, polished and signed at the Lalique factory in Alsace and then placed on the piano in the workshops of Steinway & Sons in Hamburg.

This magnificent grand piano (Steinway Model B) is a wonderfully balanced and versatile piano that does extremely well in intimate settings, teaching studios and mid-sized venues. The Model B is the favourite grand piano among private customers.

Dimensions: Length 211cm x Width 148cm.
The piano, available in black, will be taken on a world tour in 2016 that will include concert dates with renowned artists. At the end of this global tour, the piano will be auctioned off.

Most of you know how much I adore playing the piano and this piece of art would definitely make it even more fun.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: Courtesy of Steinway & Sons and Lalique

“Beautiful yet functional” is how internationally acclaimed wine critic James Suckling describes his new 100 POINTS glass and stemware collection, which is a joint creation with France’s most esteemed crystal maker, LALIQUE.

The American has tasted more than 150,000 different wines over his 30 years as a wine taster. He dreamt for decades about creating his own collection of wine glasses. With the help of Lalique, his dream came true. The two designed the 100 POINTS universal wine glass, which was launched in September 2012 and that is wonderful to drink any type of wine – white or red, young or old, first growth or “petit château”. Being heavier than most other wine glasses on the market, it is a substantial piece of stemware in anybody’s hand.

With a name referring to the wine scoring system, 100 POINTS is a hand-made collection that embraces a modern design: crystal fashioned by the best glass-masters, “U” shaped bowl and distinctive frosted rib stem to obtain the characteristic contrast of clear and satin-finish.

LALIQUE, which was established by René Lalique over 100 years ago, has a long tradition for making wine glasses beginning with ranges such as BARSAC and BEAUNE, which were both popular in the 1930s and 1940s.

Really gorgeous is the new comprehensive 100 POINTS collection with eight pieces complementary to the universal wine glass: Bordeaux glass, Burgundy glass, Champagne glass and water glass, two tumblers of different sizes, wine decanter and water decanter.

Drinking wine in a 100 POINTS glass is a sensual and delightful experience. It’s an everyday luxury for any wine lover.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: Courtesy of Lalique and © Alessandro Moggi

“Blue has no dimensions. It is beyond dimensions, whereas the other colours are not.” 
– Yves Klein

During the last days, I have been telling you all about the vibrant blue fashion trend. Here you see an art work that would match perfectly: Yves Klein’s Victoire de Samothrace by Lalique, 2011. The sulpture  is a limited edition of 83 crystal pieces, in tribute to the late artist Yves Klein who would have been 83 years old this year, combining two artistic approaches, the one of Lalique and the one of Klein.

Yves Klein (1928-1962), inventor of the IKB (International Klein Blue), a distinctive ultramarine blue, is considered to be one of the most important protagonists of the post-war artistic avantgarde.
René Lalique (1860-1945) was a major player of the Art Nouveau and subsequent Art Deco movement. His perfume bottles and glass designs transformed the female shape into a sensuous and mysterious body within the decorative home.

This weekend, I was invited to the private viewing at Galerie Gmurzynska. The sculpture is based on its namesake, an iconic work from Greek antiquity held in the Louvre, for which Klein obtained the moulds in 1962. Lalique have recreated Victoire de Samothrace with the lost wax technique, which René Lalique used for his original jewellery creations. The works are individually crafted and sculptured by the master glassmakers, making each crystal edition unique.

The new version, to be made by Lalique’s craftsmen, is priced at £75,000. Daniel Moquay, the president of the Yves Klein Foundation, who is married to Klein’s widow, told the British Telegraph that he has approved the enterprise and the price: “It is not a copy, it is a reinterpretation in the spirit of Yves Klein. But it won’t be included in the artist’s catalogue raisonné. It is 100 per cent Lalique.”

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © Sandra Bauknecht