Lalique, René (rәnā´ lälēk´), 1860-1945, French jewelery designer and glassmaker whose works are landmarks of arts nouveau and deco, b. Ay; apprenticed to Parisian goldsmith Louis Aucoq at 16; studied École des Arts Décoratifs, Paris (1876-78), Sydenham College, London (1878-80). He set up his own Parisian jewelry studio in 1885, producing sinuously luxurious art nouveau pendants, bracelets, brooches, combs, and other objects of adornment. Lalique often portrayed the female face and form as well as animal and floral motifs, frequently juxtaposing such materials as gold and silver, precious and semiprecious stones, enamel, ivory, and glass. During the 1890s his work became fashionable among the Parisian elite.