MEET THE MAKER - Schneider Art Glass

Charles and Ernest Schneider worked for the famous crystal and glass house Daum in the early 1900s, Ernest as a salesman and commercial manager, and Charles as a freelance designer. The Schneider brothers were a generation younger than Emile Gallé and the Daum brothers, whose glassworks studios were in the same area of France.

The two brothers left Daum around 1912, and re-commissioned an old glassworks manufacturing unit under the name Schneider Frères et Wolff, a few miles north of Paris in 1913. Henri Wolff was an architect friend of Charles Schneider.Initially the Schneiders made high quality cameo vases and lamps, but in 1914, Charles, Ernest and most of their skilled glassworkers were led away to fight in the war. They returned and in 1917 re-opened their factory to make glassware for hospitals. They sold shares in the company to finance getting back into the art glass market under the name Societé Anonyme des Verreries Schneider.

Charles Schneider was a brilliant and versatile designer, and the company produced a wide range of superb designs of vases, ewers (water jugs), bowls, and lamps. They were very successful in marketing their glass to prestigious retail stores both in Paris and abroad. Eventually they bought back all the shares in the company and re-named it Verrerie Schneider. Virtually all their pieces are marked with the name Schneider or with one of their other trademarks, which include "Charder", "Le Verre Français", and "Verçais".

We are proud to have a few Schneider pieces in our collection, as seen just bellow. For a closer look, please do contact us.

Anecdote: Why would the Schneider brothers use the trademark “Charder” and “Verçais”? As some of you may know, the term “Art Deco” came about as an abbreviation of the International Exposition of Modern Industrial and Decorative Arts held in Paris in 1925. In a similar fashion, Charles Schneider decided to abbreviate “Charles Schneider” as “Charder” and “Le Verre Français” as “Verçais”.

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