A cut glass Val St. Lambert Ship decanter, with 'Aurore' casing , and six matching licqueur glasses, 23cm high, 15cm wide (7) The crystal glass company of Val St. Lambert was founded at Seraing, near Liege in Belgium, in 1825 on the site of an old abbey. Amongst the early shareholders was King Guillaume I of Belgium, thus ensuring royal patronage of the company, which has continued until the present day. Since 1839 the company has exported artistic crystal glass objects throughout the world and has been a frequent exhibitor at world fairs. In 1879 the company took over the glassworks in nearby Namur and exapanded internationally. At their Jemeppe-sur-meuse factory in the early 20th century Val St. Lambert, under Romain Gevaert, designed a number of widely varying pieces based on their research into raw materials, including a range of oignon vases using powdered glass picked up from the `marver' and pull-up techniques. At the Brussels Exhibition of 1897 the new Art Nouveau aesthetic was enthusiastically embraced by the company under their designer Leon Ledru. They gained a reputation for casing and cutting glass, achieving bold effects which were combined with the naturalistic designs in the Ecôle de Nancy. Their use of multi-layered coloured glass was highly distinctive and although this technique was used by other companies, particularly Stevens and Williams in England, no other producer achieved such a recognisable house style. For an exhibition held in Brussels in 1990 entitled Val Saint Lambert, Art and Design 1880-1990 , the curator, Michele Thiry, wrote in the catalogue concerning the period 1920-1940: This period is characterised by a remarkable commercial dynamism. At a large number of international exhibitions (such as Paris 1925, Liege 1930, and Brussels 1935) Val Saint Lambert presented some altogether modern pieces. Abundant ornamentation and naturalism gradually disappeared in favour of geometrical sobriety closely linked to constructivism and contrasting colours. This aesthetic point of view was taken under the impulse of Leon Ledru and further developed by Joseph Simon, who became head of the creation department in 1926 . Joseph Simon succeeded Leon Ledru the year after the Paris Exhibition of 1925 and introduced Art Deco to the wider world. The technical abilities of Val St. Lambert were well suited to their new geometrical designs which became immediately recognisable and unique to the company. One of the principal Val St. Lambert designers of the Art Deco period was Charles Graffart who was a particularly accomplished engraver and cutter. At the height of his creativity 1926-1929, he produced some 300 unique pieces. Despite the onset of the depression, Val St. Lambert continuted to participate in important exhibitions, showcasing work of the finest quality. Their notable exhibitions during this period included Liege (1930), Vincennes (1931), Antwerp (1932) and Brussels (1935).