Modern designs explore the beauty of nature, but more than a century ago, nature invited us to admire its beauty through the works of the French glass designer, René Lalique.
René Lalique founded the eponymous lifestyle brand, Lalique, in 1888; up to this time of modernity, it still continues to thrive. René Lalique continues to inspire the market through French savoir-faire and endurance to ultimate French luxury.

The Hirondelles Collection is now available in Rustan’s Makati, Rustan’s Shangri-la and Rustan’s Cebu.
Daniel Ong, Lalique’s Regional, Southeast and Oceania Director, said that their 130th anniversary’s collection is different.
“In the past, we center a lot on floral items because the designs of Lalique’s creation since 1888, we all based it on nature and we focused on fauna, flora and femininity. This is the first time we focused on fauna and with one element called swallow,” he adds.
Swallow was particularly the inspiration of René Lalique during his time. Through his works, he explored decorative possibilities of flora, fauna and femininity. The swallow made him decide to focus on jewelries and decorative objects. Daniel adds that the logo of Lalique came from this inspiration as well.

The newest collection is inspired by its founder’s admiration for nature and satin-finished and re-polished crystals
“This goes back to the founder. The whole collection is named ‘Hirondelles Collection’ and in English language, it’s the swallow which is the symbol of happiness and freedom,” Daniel shares.
The Hirondelles collection also reinterprets the figure of the swallow, fashioned in satin-finished and re-polished crystal. Daniel also emphasized the importance of the collection’s savoir-faire exhibition.
The collection comes into five different sculptures—vase, dish and bowl, grand sculpture, fared vase and wall mounted designs.
The vases are manually polished to the wheel. On the other hand, the dish and bowl are satin-finished swallows and contrasted with transparent crystals. The grand sculptures are designed with re-polished crystal highlights. Flared vases were gold-stamped with 24 carat find gold. The wall mounted is the new functionality of Lalique which are screwed on the wall with a magnet allowing us to see stunning wall compositions.

Lalique’s Hirondelles vases are carried out and polished manually to perfection.
“We owned the manufacturing since 1921…we do our carving process. Lalique is the only crystal brand that spends 75% of the production time in a manual work—from polishing to signature,” Daniel says.
Lalique is also known for timeless jewelries, perfume bottles and art objects. Daniel also envisions Lalique to collaborate with Filipino artists in the future. He shares the brand’s six pillars below:
First, Lalique is known for its design from bowls, structions, dish and vases and a lot more. Currently, they are exploring more of this as well.
Second, Lalique’s interior design in chandeliers and furniture are used in their ulta-sophisticated five-star hotels and other accommodations as well. They also explore fabric and the like.
Third, Daniel shares that René Lalique started designing perfume bottles as well. Lalique’s third pillar is the fragrance.
“We have perfumes and scented candles and since December 2017, we collaborated with Singapore Airline and supply amenity kits,” he says. Lalique also supplies pillows and other toiletries in first-class flights.
The fourth pillar is the arts that explore more of the design jumping to the fifth pillar which is the jewelries.
Finally, Lalique hospitality. “We supply toiletries to hotels and we own hotels—Villa Rene Lalique and Maison Lalique,” Daniel says. Hocberg Restaurant and Hotel is also owned by Lalique.
“As you can see the six pillars are very dynamic,” Daniel describes. The pillars that serve people’s lifestyle and living will surely go a long way, he shares.
Lalique, as a crystal brand and a lifestyle stop, started small. Through the years of hard work of this immense artist, René Lalique, his legacy comes and arrives to one hundred and thirty years.
The Hirondelles collection, inspired by its founder and the journey the brand has went through, also speaks of how the people’s hearts change over time.
Daniel admits to be adapting to changes—from style to amenity and choices. Though people’s lifestyle change, surely, Lalique will always be the luxury we all need.
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