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Daum’s roots reach back to 1878 when Jean Daum (1825-1885), a solicitor and politician, purchased the Verrerie Sainte-Catherine, a manufacturer of watch glasses, plate glass, and tableware in Nancy, France. The owners had persuaded Daum to lend them money several years prior but were unable to repay him. Daum had no technical knowledge or business experience but, money being a great motivator, sought to recover the balance of what was owed to him by buying the business; he changed the name to Verrerie de Nancy and hired a former manager of a pottery to run the technical side of the firm while he attempted to manage the office. He found little success and the next year, in 1879, his eldest son Auguste (1853-1909) came to his rescue.

Like his father, Auguste studied law and became a solicitor’s clerk but he gave up his career after seeing Jean’s struggles. Auguste kept the business afloat until 1883 when he married and received a significant dowry from his wife, which finally set the company on the right track. Antonin (1864-1931), Auguste’s younger brother, joined the firm in 1887 after earning an engineering degree and swiftly took over the production side while Auguste focused on the business. Together, they were a formidable team and their partnership led to great artistic and financial success. The firm exhibited tableware at the 1889 Paris Exposition where they were greatly inspired by the displays of art glass by Emile Gallé, Léveillé, and other makers. Antonin took the experience to heart and, while bedridden for several months in 1890, began sketching new ideas for vases and decorations which he had their employees craft once he returned to the factory.

By 1891, under Antonin’s direction, the company began hiring decorators and shifting some of their production to artistic glass. Jacques Grüber, who would go on to open his own glassworks, worked there from 1894 until 1897, during which time he created some incredibly detailed vases depicting scenes from Wagner’s operas (an interest he shared with Antonin). Another early decorator was Henri Bergé, who became chief decorator and remained with Daum for nearly thirty years; he designed many of their decorative motifs as well as many of their shapes. The firm hired numerous talented and accomplished craftsmen and went on to exhibit their new creations in numerous prestigious international exhibitions, including the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, the 1895 Libre Esthétique Exhibition, the 1897 International Exhibition, and their ultimate triumph: the Paris 1900 Exposition Universelle. In Paris, they won a Grand Prix, Antonin was made a Knight of the Legion of Honour, Henri Bergé won a Silver Medal, and three other decorators were awarded Bronze Medals.

Daum entered the 20th century at the top of their artistic game and showed no signs of slowing down. They had developed a singular style, influenced by nature but executed in a range of spectacular colors, shapes, and techniques (acid-etching, wheel-carving, pâte de verre, padding, vitrification, enameling, and internal decoration to name but a few). Following Auguste’s death in 1909, their cousin Jean Daum, an attorney, joined the firm as commercial director and around 1911 Auguste’s son, Paul, was brought on as well. Paul became key in helping shepherd the firm’s style through changes of taste in the broader decorative arts market. Daum was forced to close in 1914 with the outbreak of WWI and resumed production in 1919, after which point the company produced simpler, sturdier designs, showing more and more Art Deco influence. Their new range of glass was exhibited under Paul’s direction at the 1925 Paris Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts. Tragically, Paul became a victim of WWII, dying in a concentration camp in 1944 following the occupation of France by the Germans.

Daum resumed production in 1946 under the leadership of Paul Daum’s sons, Jacques and Michel, who changed the trajectory of glass creation there yet again. From that point forward, Daum’s output consisted of high quality lead crystal works and, in 1970, Michel resumed production of pâte de verre (for the first time there since the start of WWI). He commissioned limited edition original glass sculptures from artists such as Salvador Dalí in addition to their expanding range of lead crystal art glass. The company was family-owned until 1985 and, although it is now owned by Financière Saint-Germain, is still located in Nancy, France, where hundreds of local employees produce a wide variety of high quality decorative glass and tableware.