Christofle: A brilliant story

The Musée des Arts Décoratifs has maintained close ties with Christofle since the second half of the 19th century. It is celebrating the goldsmith's creations and expertise with the largest exhibition ever dedicated to this factory, which has a rich history spanning almost two hundred years.

Since its foundation in the 1830s, this lineage of silversmiths, created by Charles Christofle and continued by Henri Bouilhet, has transformed the lines and decorations of silver to adapt them to everyday life. In collaboration with the greatest designers such as Luc Lanel, Gio Ponti, Andrée Putman and Karl Lagerfeld, Christofle is an artistic laboratory that revolutionises traditional goldsmithing by renewing its uses and adorning it with unprecedented colours and decorations.

The rich iconography of the exhibition catalogue invites us to discover some of the most remarkable pieces. In doing so, it transports us into the splendour of great restaurants and palaces such as the Ritz, and legendary trains, liners and planes, such as the Orient-Express, the Normandie and the Concorde. Moreover, it brings us into places of political power, all equipped by Christofle, ambassador in France and abroad of the art of living and luxury à la française.

Through 13 thematic essays divided into four chapters, this book traces the extraordinary destiny of the House of Christofle. Sixty-one notes cover the history of the decorative arts through goldsmithing, from historicism to Japonism, from Art Nouveau to Art Deco, from 1950s design to the most contemporary.