2026 marks the centenary of the death of the designer Louis Majorelle who collaborated with Emile Galle, famed for his glass, in launching L’Ecole de Nancy.

Nancy, capital of Lorraine, was transformed into a Ville d’Art as houses, banks, shops and restaurants in the Art Nouveau style sprang up. Inheriting a cabinet making workshop from his father, Majorelle initially turned-out pastiches of Louis XV furniture styles.

But falling under the influence of Galle, Majorelle was inspired to take his production in new directions. He created a very personal Art Nouveau style using marquetery to create intricate pictorial designs. Inspiration came from nature, from the forests of Lorriane: plant stems, waterlilies, pinecones and dragonflies.

Around 1900 he added a metalworking atelier to the workshops, creating mounts for his furniture and collaborating with Daum Freres glassworks to create lamps. At the Paris Exposition Universalle, the apogee of Art Nouveau, Majorelle’s designs triumphed.

In 1904 Majorelle acquired Samuel Bing’s famed Maison Art Nouveau as the flagship for L’Ecole de Nancy in Paris. Majorelle left his mark on his hometown commissioning Henri Sauvage to create a magnificent house and studio: the Villa Jika embodies the full flowering of Art Nouveau.