Tucked away on the second-floor jewelry salon of the new Lalique flagship is a high-jewelry necklace inspired by the Manhattan skyline. It is a fitting if unexpected emblem for the French crystal house, founded by the avant-garde artist René Lalique in 1888. Rendered in white gold with diamonds, rather than crystal, the piece was inspired by an original sketch and speaks to a deep-rooted savoir-faire that, 137 years later, now extends to six arms of René’s namesake company: decorative objects, interior design, perfumes, jewelry, art, and hospitality.
The entry to the new Lalique store on Madison Avenue features a stair railing wrapped in leather. Crystal blocks are used in seams along the wall as a light feature, and at the first floor landing as a decorative tableau flanked by a plaster relief in the same pattern.
The five-story townhouse, aptly dubbed the Maison d’Artiste is, perhaps, the purest expression of—and the culmination of—them all. Tucked away on a quiet corner on New York’s Upper East Side, the space provides a unique and one-of-a-kind opportunity for collectors as well as designers and architects to experience every facet of the brand in a residential setting.
The Salon d’Exploration on the first floor showcases the house’s newest collections. The space is crowned by the Hirondelles chandelier.
The interiors, a collaboration between Marc Larminaux, Artistic and Creative Director of Lalique, and Christos Prezevanos, founder and principal of the Los Angeles-based Studio Preveza, provide a captivating backdrop for Lalique’s furniture, lighting and tabletop designs, all thrown into sharp relief by the imaginative ways in which Prevezanos, working with the Lalique Interior Design Studio, has shaped the way guests experience them.
The third floor features the Véranda Des Sens. The upholstered chair is by Martasala Éditions.
Blocks of crystal are inlaid into mirror frames and embedded in low-lit seams along the wall; heritage motifs are rendered at different scales and in different applications and mediums to showcase their versatility; a collection of archival photographs and drawings are offset by gestural brush strokes on a gilt-stitched velvet. It’s a feast for the senses, slightly tipped, admittedly, in favor of the eyes.
Guests are greeted on the first floor by the Salon d’Exploration, which serves as a showcase for new collections, all of which, it’s worth mentioning, are still handcrafted in the house’s sole manufacturing site in Alsace, France. From there, an elevator—reserved, for a time during the opening night party, for avid collector 50 Cent—ascends to the upper levels, though guests are encouraged to take the building’s staircase as it boasts a hand-painted mural by Chris “Daze” Ellis, a prolific street artist of the 1970s.
The Lalique Art Gallery features Lalique collaborations with Damien Hirst, James Turrell, and Zaha Hadid.
The second floor features a jewelry salon and the Véranda Des Sens, where the house’s perfume heritage and home fragrances are on full display, while the third floor boasts the Lalique Art Gallery, with limited-edition works by Damien Hirst, James Turrell and Zaha Hadid. The crowning jewel (or, rather, crowning crystal) of the townhouse must be the fourth-floor bar and lounge, outfitted in deep oxblood with an Art Deco sensibility that nods to the Orient Express.
The fourth floor features a bar and lounge as well as a dedicated work station for the Lalique Interior Design Studio.
Wines from the private vineyards of Lalique Group Executive Chairman Silvio Denz populate a custom wine refrigerator, while the brand’s collaborative crystal bottles with the likes of MacCallan, Patron and Hennessy adorn mirror-backed shelving behind a fluted marble bar. At the opposite end is a dedicated workspace for the design studio, where clients can work on commissions and custom orders.
Of course, the real reason to come is to dream, and to witness what can happen when an artist follows his own to its most glorious end. It doesn’t get much more New York than that.
Sean Santiago is ELLE Decor’s Deputy Editor, covering news, trends and talents in interior design, hospitality and travel, culture, and luxury shopping. Since starting his career at an interior design firm in 2011, he has gone on to cover the industry for Vogue, Architectural Digest, Sight Unseen, PIN-UP and Domino. He is the author of The Lonny Home (Weldon Owens, 2018), has produced scripted social content for brands including West Elm and Streeteasy, and is sometimes recognized on the street for his Instagram Reels series, #DanceToDecor
