In 1878 Jean Daum, a lawyer,acquired glassworks near Nancy, France, as part payment of a debt. His son Auguste, also trained as a lawyer, joined him in the glass business. The business slowly improved. After Daum senior's death, Auguste's brother Antonin, trained as an engineer, joined him in the glassworks. The Daum brothers' “Verrerie de Nancy” opened.

But the origins of Daum Freres Glass Works at Nancy go back to the brothers' internship with Galle in 1875 where they started their glass experimentation. Through his influence, they moved the glassworks from producing utilitarian products into making art glass. Their experiments with the "flushed" process [layers of glass of different thicknesses and color gradations laid upon one another] and their rediscovery of the ancient pâte-de-verre, or glass paste, technique [coloured glass which has been ground into a fine powder and mixed with a fusing agent to form a paste which can then be pressed into hollow moulds or sculpted like clay]. If several colors are mixed the pâte-de-verre can create an artful mottling in the glass. Many of the highly prized art glass shades they produced between the 1890s and the 1930s utilized one of these techniques.

Although Daum's Verrerie de Nancy first gained financial secutrity from commercial drinking glasses, it quickly expanded into the growing art glass industry. [The ‘Handsome Tavern Glass” which was exhibited at the 1889 Paris Expo, was also known as the "self-defense" glass because it was heavy enough and thick enough at the base to be used as a weapon.] From the turn of the century through until the first World War and for a short period afterwards, the Daum glassworks produced pieces of major significance in the Art Nouveau style. In the 20s they redirected their energies to creating works in the Art Deco style.

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Pierre d'Avsen, born Pierre Girre (1901-1990), while still a young adolescent studied at Ecole des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. He joined the glassworks of René Lalique in 1915 at the young age of 14. While with Lalique, he created their well-known "Serpent" and "Tourbillons" vase designs. In 1926 he left to create works under his chosen name Pierre d'Avsen which were produced by Cristallerie de Saint-Remi (Sèvres).

In 1930 Daum Freres persuaded him to become art director at their glassworks specializing in molded glass, Verreries D'Art Lorrain, in Croismare near Luneville and stayed until the disruption caused by the the French workers' movement general strike in 1936. He moved after that to manage the Verreries des Andelys Holophane S.A. (Verlys) before again returning to working under his own name, this time having his pieces produced by Cristallerie de Choisy-le-Roi (Sèvres).

d'Avsen is one of the finest of French glass artists working with molded glass and works under his own name are relatively rare.

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David Guéron (1892 – 1950)  ( known as Degué) Born in Turkey, he joined the French Foreign Legion in 1914 . He was wounded on the Western front and pensioned out.

After World War I Gueron opened what was originally a utilitarian glass factory, Cristalleries de Compiègne, in Compiegne near Paris. This factory, in later years, produced more interesting products, culminating with a commission for 6000 individually crafted glass panels engraved with diamond patterns and backed with gold leaf (verre églomisé) for the wals of the luxury liner Normandie.

In 1926 he moved into art glass, opening a gallery and glassworks in Paris called Verrerie d’Art Degué. His factory made beautiful acid-etched glass and well-crafted geometric moulded art glass known simply as Degue. He is credited for many well designed and produced lamps, chandeliers, and vases in the Art Deco style.

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The Durand Glass firm [Millville NJ] of today has nothing to do with Durand art glass. It manufactures primarily for the restaurant industry and is internationally owned.

Durand Art Glass was never sold under the name "Durand." The company started by Victor Durand, jR. and his father in 1897 was called Vineland Flint Glassworks [Vineland NJ]. Victor came from a long line of French glassblowers who worked for Baccarat. Victor joined his emigre father in the US and began to work for various US and Canadian glassworks before buying Vineland Flint Glassworks in 1897. His three brothers worked at the factory. The fledgling company, then making glass tubing and rods, was destroyed by fire in 1904. The clapboard-built factory was later rebuilt in brick.

Victor Jr founded the New Jersey Clay Pot Company in 1909. He now owned both Vineland Flint Glass Works and and the New Jersey Clay Pot Company. In 1920 V of theictor Jr acquired the Newfield Glass Company.

Victor Jr.'s one burning desire was to make art glass. In 1924 He hired Martin Bach, Jr. son of the founder of the now-defunct Quezal Glass glassworks to work for him. Durand finally created his art glass shop, the Fancy Shop. Durand first made amber glass similar to that of Tiffany. And they made many threaded glass items. Motifs included hearts, vines, peacock feathers and even King Tut. Early pieces of Durand glass were not marked; later pieces were.Durand art glass won awards but was not always profitable.It declined with the death of Victor Durand Jr. and the coinciding great depression.

Durand's widow merged the company with Kimble Glass and the last "Fancy" glass, a powder glass, was sold by Kimble under the name"Kimble's Cluthra." By 1933 production ended.

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The Emeralite desklamp is a product of the H. G. McFaddin company. McFaddin desk lamps before 1909 used the green glass shades made at the J. Schreiber and Nneffen glass factory, Rapotin, Czechoslovakia but the lamp had Art Nouveau styling and the shade was in the form of a shell. In 1909 McFaddin was granted a patent for "a new, original and ornamental design for lamp shades" and Emeralite lamps, as we know them today, were born. The patented shade shape used in the Emeralite desk lamps is also used in McFaddin's Bellova line, but the shades are of a wide variety of colors and finishes.

Emeralite lamps were made in three series, The 4378 series was made between 1909 and 1916. The second period of production, the 8734 series, ran from 1916 until the early 30s. The last series, known as the #9 series, was made only for a few years and featured an enlarged version of the 8734 shades.

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La Societe Anonyme Edmond Etling, a design studio founded by Edmond Laurent Etling in 1909 produced ornamental items in a wide variety of media. His studio at 29 Rue Paradis in Paris contained works of bronze, ivory, glass, and ceramics designed by some of the most notable artists and artisans of the period.

His own foundry produced statuary by Chiparus, Colinet, Alliott, Alonzo, Guiraud-Riviere and Lucille Sevin. Commissioned glassworks, including pieces by by Sevres, Georges Beal and Geza Hiecz, were produced at the Choisy-leRoi glassworks, a Parisian glass produccer known for its high quality work.

Etling glass was an Art Deco era phenomenon and the company ceased production after WWII, although Sevres continued to reproduce Etling glass figurines until the 1970s.

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Dating from the 1930s-1940s and featuring Art Deco and Art Moderne styles, Ezan is well known and respected for its innovative design in glassware and lighting. Ezan gave the world "icicle glass" and the flamboyant Art Deco gilded leaf sconces with their Hollywood opulence..

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Alfred Jean Foretay (1861-1944) a Swiss artist, was born January 1861 in Morges, Switzerland, and died in Geneva, in 1944. He was both a sculptor and a painter. He studied sculpture with Alexandre Falguière at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris.

Foretay was first and foremost a sculptor, doing portrait busts as well as full figures, and was primarily known for his Art Nouveau women cast in bronze or spelter. He won awards for his work in the Salon des Artists Francais in Paris.

After moving back to Switzerland in 1910 he took up painting, experimenting with a variety of styles but primarily influenced by the Impressionists. A retrospective exhibit of his paintings, "The Paintings of Light," was held in Morges, the town of his birth, in 1977.

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