Maison de Baccarat

Maison de Baccarat Review

Designer Philippe Starck brought an irreverent Alice in Wonderland approach to the HQ and museum of the venerable Baccarat crystal firm. Relocated to the 16e arrondissement in 2003, Starck played on the building's surrealist legacy: Cocteau, Dalí, Buñuel, and Man Ray were all frequent guests of the mansion's onetime owner, Countess Marie-Laure de Noailles. At the entrance, talking heads are projected onto giant crystal urns, and a lighted chandelier is submerged in an aquarium. Upstairs, the museum, which is a generous term for the splendid but rather small collection, features masterworks created by Baccarat since 1764, including soaring candlesticks made for Czar Nicholas II and the perfume flacon Dalí designed for Schiaparelli.