CHRISTOFLE
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Christofle is a French goldsmith and tableware company, founded in Paris in 1830 by Charles Christofle (1805-1863).
The company is known for having introduced electrolytic gilding and silver plating to France in 1842.
The Christofle company was founded in 1830 by Charles Christofle. Coming from a family of Parisian industrialists specializing in precious metal work, Charles Christofle was 15 years old when he began an apprenticeship with his brother-in-law Hugues Calmette, a manufacturer of "provincial jewelry". In 1830, he took over the family business and in 1832 registered his master's mark with the Guarantee of Paris, to manufacture gold jewelry.
Twelve years later, in 1842, he bought the patents for gilding and silvering by electrolysis from the Frenchman Henri de Ruolz and the Englishman Elkington; this technique gave birth to silver-plated metal in France. In 1844, he decided to create and manufacture his own models.
Centerpiece for Napoleon III
Maison Christofle supplied King Louis-Philippe, who, in 1846, ordered a table service for the Château d'Eu. The company became famous following the order of a 4,000-piece service in 1851, including centre-pieces, by Emperor Napoleon III. The central piece of the goldwork centre-pieces was recovered from the ruins of the Tuileries Palace; it is now in the Museum of Decorative Arts. His titles of "Goldsmith to the King" and "Supplier to the Emperor" allowed the now famous company to be solicited by foreign sovereigns such as Emperor Maximilian of Mexico, the Tsar of Russia, the German Kaiser, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and Sultan Abdülaziz of the Ottoman Empire.
On the death of Charles Christofle, his son Paul (1838-1907) and his nephew Henri Bouilhet (1830-1910) succeeded him and continued the development of the company. Thanks to the development of new techniques (massive electroplating, enamels, patinas, natural prints) and the opening of new factories (Saint-Denis and Karlsruhe), Christofle established itself as one of the major goldsmiths of the century. Its collections covered not only tableware and decoration, but also art objects, decorative statuary, racing or agricultural competition prizes and monumental decoration for gilding, for example the decorations of the roofs of the Opéra Garnier in Paris.
Between the two wars, the company strove to renew its collections by offering, in addition to pieces in the Art Nouveau style tinged with japonism, pieces in the Art Deco style. The 1925 Decorative and Industrial Arts Exhibition in Paris gave it the opportunity to present its new collections in the pavilion it shared with the Baccarat crystal works. Luc Lanel and Christian Fjerdingstad designed most of the art deco models, in silver or silver-plated metal, that the goldsmith offered. It was Lanel who asked Christofle to create the services intended to equip the three largest ocean liners put into service by the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique at that time: Atlantique, Île-de-France and Normandie.
Born in a century of renewal, the company accompanied the rise of the bourgeoisie and the evolution of its lifestyle. Table and gastronomy were transformed, as evidenced by the centrepieces and tea services created by Christofle, as well as the appearance of new pieces such as the egg plate, the wine trolley and the melon fork. Christofle equipped hotels, including the Ritz and rail and maritime transport companies.
In the following century, the tables of the great art deco ocean liners were still set in Christofle; 40,000 pieces of goldwork were delivered for the Normandie ocean liner in 1935.
Having suffered badly from the economic crisis of 1929, Christofle returned to expansion after the Second World War.
The acquisition of the goldsmith Cardeilhac in 1951 brought new models of cutlery (Renaissance) to Christofle. The creation of the goldsmith at this time was notably marked by the launch of the Formes Nouvelles (1959) and Christofle contemporain (1989) collections. These collections offer avant-garde pieces designed by Lino Sabattini, Gio Ponti or Tapio Wirkkala for the first, young designers for the second.
The end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century were marked by a refocused offer on the art of the table and decoration. Christofle offers steel lines (cutlery and decoration), crystal and porcelain.
Since 2005, Christofle has offered jewelry, with the help of designers such as Adeline Cacheux, Ora-ïto, Peggy Huynh Kinh, Andrée Putman, Arik Levy. Returning to his first profession, he launched the Idole jewelry collection designed by Andrée Putman then, in 2007, the solid silver Silver Story collection for women by Peggy Huynh Kinh, followed by the Pleine Lune collection in 2008. Peggy Huynh Kinh continued this collaboration with the Silver Story collection of goldsmithing for the table and the home in 2009.
