Harmonie highballs x2 baccarat

Consecutive parallel cuts travel cleanly along the Clear crystal grazing the highball glass from its lip all the way down to its thick base. The glass has a statuesque look, emphasized by the verticality of the lines, and the ridges bring a textural quality to the surface. It’s a piece to admire as you sip your spirits and mixed drinks. The vertical sweep of the striping is also present on other pieces of the Harmonie collection, which includes tumblers and a round whiskey decanter.

♦ BACCARAT, A VILLAGE IN LORRAINE : 

A small village surrounded by green forest that gets its fair share of rain. This is the humble setting in which magic has made its home for the last two hundred and fifty years. On 16 October 1764, Louis XV authorized the creation of what would become the prestigious Baccarat crystal works. At the time, the region was weakened by an economic crisis, brought about by the closure in 1760 of the saltworks of the Baccarat castellany, owned by the Bishop of Metz. To remedy the situation, the Bishop, Louis de Montmorency Laval, came up with a bright idea: crystal!

The product had become hugely popular all over Europe. Particularly the crystal manufactured in England and Bohemia, which was prized by royalty and the wealthy classes. The Bishop’s lands were densely forested, so an excellent fuel source… but they were also rich in sand and potash, the raw materials of glass manufacture. Monseigneur de Montmorency Laval deferred to Louis XV, asking him to give his blessing to the construction of the factory: “France”, wrote the prelate to the king, “is lacking in glassmaking craftsmanship and this is why the products of Bohemia are flowing into it in such large quantities, resulting in an alarming expropriation of funds at the very moment when the kingdom has most grave need of monies to recover from the deadly Seven Years’War.”