Often now referred to as 'crystal', the glass was blown and shaped, then passed to a specialist cutter, who would polish and cut patterns to enhance its brilliance.

A popular movement in the 1920s and 30s, promoted by Ruhlmann and other great Paris furniture manufacturers, and the big department stores. The style was influenced by Aztec and Egyptian design, the Ballets Russes, Hollywood musicals and the new ocean-going liners. It featured stepped and geometric designs, sunrays and chevrons.

The Daum Glassworks, established in Nancy in 1875, developed with Daum's sons Antonin and Auguste, in the 1890's into etched Art Nouveau cameo glass. With promotion at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, the Daum Frères became highly regarded, winning awards and pushing their skills to the limit. Alongside Emile Gallé, who was considered the top craftsman in cameo glass at the turn of the 20th Century, they introduced further techniques and used acid to etch their pieces, as well as to selectively alter some of the underlying colors. Acid could also be used to frost surfaces or make them shiny. Wheel-turning techniques were used to give the surfaces of some Daum pieces a hammered look, which, of course, would be an impossibility in glass. Their ceiling bowls and shades in mysterious and dusky hues often have speckles of gold or enamel painting.