From France to Sydney: Baccarat Masterpieces in Australia for the First Time
For one remarkable evening in September 2026, Sydney became the setting for more than 260 years of French artistry. FormFluent presented Baccarat crystal in Australia through rare creations, monumental forms and luminous craftsmanship. More than a presentation, it was an intimate encounter with the people, stories and emotion that continue to give Baccarat its unmistakable presence.
Shwu Ching Chai, Owner and Managing Director of FormFluent, and Clément Brunet-Moret, Chief Executive Officer of Baccarat Asia-Pacific, celebrating an evening of heritage, craftsmanship, and distinguished company.
BACCARAT CRYSTAL IN AUSTRALIA: THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE BRILLIANCE
A work of crystal holds the traces of the hands that shaped it. To encounter it alongside the people who carry its heritage forward adds another dimension to its beauty. This was the spirit of FormFluent’s gathering in Double Bay, where collectors and design enthusiasts came together around Baccarat’s creations and the stories behind them.
Shwu Ching Chai, Owner and Managing Director of FormFluent, hosted the evening, joined by Clément Brunet-Moret, Chief Executive Officer of Baccarat Asia-Pacific, and representatives from France. His presence lent the gathering an intimacy that the creations alone could not convey: the opportunity to discover Baccarat through those who know and cherish its heritage.
For FormFluent, bringing Baccarat crystal to Australia meant opening that experience to a local audience. Here in Sydney, a tradition nurtured in France could be encountered at close quarters, its artistry admired and its stories shared. The evening offered something beyond the beauty of the collection: a sense of belonging to the world behind it.
Clément Brunet-Moret, Chief Executive Officer of Baccarat Asia-Pacific, sharing the heritage, craftsmanship and spirit of the Maison.
BACCARAT, SPOKEN FROM THE HEART
For a moment, the story led back from Sydney to Baccarat’s beginnings in northeastern France. Clément Brunet-Moret spoke of the Maison’s origins, the character of crystal and the feelings it evokes, connecting the creations on display with the place and tradition from which they emerged.
Founded in 1764, Baccarat carries a history that extends far beyond any single collection. In Brunet-Moret’s telling, that history became a setting for something more intimate: the encounter between a material and the person drawn to it. His reflections moved between provenance and perception, considering both where Baccarat began and how its crystal is experienced.
With the works close at hand, these ideas took on a tangible presence. Form, proportion and intricate cutting offered much to admire; their history offered another depth of understanding. Yet the appeal of crystal also lies in what resists precise description. Brunet-Moret’s heartfelt address allowed space for that response, bringing knowledge and emotion into the same conversation.
A closer look at the artistry of Baccarat Haute Couture, presented by FormFluent in Sydney.
WHEN CRYSTAL BECOMES HAUTE COUTURE
The Haute Couture selection presented by FormFluent in Sydney included three distinctive Baccarat creations: the Les Oies Célestes Vase, decorated with celestial geese; the Éclat de Lumière Decanter, designed to resemble a sapphire-set vessel; and the Vase Reflets Graphiques, combining black and clear crystal. Together, they show how Baccarat transforms historic designs through colour, cutting and craftsmanship.
The Vase Reflets Graphiques finds its expression in contrast. Clear crystal lies beneath a black overlay, with horizontal and vertical fluting revealing a rhythm of mirrored surfaces. The apparent confidence of its geometry rests on hours of concentrated cutting. Reinterpreting a 1930 design, this edition of 25 pieces gives an archival form a distinctly contemporary presence.
A more pictorial story unfolds across the Les Oies Célestes Vase. Originally created for the 1878 Universal Exhibition in Paris, the design draws inspiration from the ornamental ceramics of Iznik. Hand-painted enamel and gold enrich its slender oval form, while celestial geese arrive in a symbolic garden that blossoms at their landing. Limited to 50 pieces worldwide, the vase brings together the precision of decorative craftsmanship and the imaginative freedom of a fable.
The Éclat de Lumière Decanter carries a different history of fascination. Recreated from a table service commissioned in 1908 by Maharaja Jagatjit Singh, a collector of gems and admirer of French art, it appears studded with sapphires. Its jewel-like surface emerges through the careful removal of blue crystal to expose the clear layer beneath, itself intricately cut. A mouth-blown stopper, shaped by an artisan recognised as a Meilleur Ouvrier de France, continues the decoration to the very top. The edition comprises just 25 pieces.
Georges Chevalier’s Coupe Reflets Graphiques brought Cubist geometry to pink crystal, while Coupe Éclats de Lumière recalled the radiating symmetry of Gothic rose windows. In Coupe Flammes Midnight, carved flames and star diamonds revealed the depth of midnight-blue crystal. L’Agrion Joli offered a delicate counterpoint: a dragonfly poised in motion, its cobalt-blue lining evoking sky and water.
Georges Chevalier’s Coupe Reflets Graphiques in pink crystal, presented at FormFluent’s Baccarat event in Sydney.
DISCOVER THE STORIES BEHIND BACCARAT HAUTE COUTURE
Explore the archival inspirations and craftsmanship behind these works in Baccarat Haute Couture: The Pinnacle of Crystal Craftsmanship.
French crystal and Chinese-inspired porcelain invite a closer look at Printemps Bleu.
BACCARAT PRINTEMPS BLEU: TWO TRADITIONS, ONE EXPRESSION
Spring finds a lasting home in the Zénith Printemps Bleu Chandelier. Swallows, flowers and butterflies unfold in cobalt blue across white porcelain, nestled within the brilliance of Baccarat crystal. Through Steve Leung’s design, French and Chinese decorative traditions meet with the delicacy of a painted scene.
Presented by FormFluent in Sydney, the 24-light creation is limited to sixty numbered pieces worldwide. Within its grand silhouette, these small emblems of nature lend a tender quality to the composition, giving its splendour an intimate charm.
TWO CULTURES, A SHARED LIGHT
Follow the story of Steve Leung’s Zénith Printemps Bleu, where Baccarat crystal and blue-and-white porcelain give French and Chinese artistry a shared expression.
Baccarat’s past finds a new expression in Marcel Wanders’ New Antique collection.
BACCARAT NEW ANTIQUE: THE PAST, STILL UNFOLDING
Some designs leave an invitation for another generation. With New Antique, Marcel Wanders returns to Baccarat’s historic World Fair creations, finding possibilities within forms first imagined for a different age. Created for the Maison’s 260th anniversary, the collection gives those early ambitions a contemporary expression.
FormFluent’s Sydney selection brought together the Amphora Vase, Prima Vase and Mirage Dual Candlestick. At 53 centimetres high and weighing 24 kilograms, Amphora lent the group a monumental presence. The smaller proportions of Prima and Mirage introduced a change of scale, carrying the collection from a commanding sculptural vessel to the intimacy of candlelight.
Together, these Baccarat pieces suggest a heritage still open to interpretation. In Wanders’ hands, the archive becomes an invitation to imagine what an enduring design might become.
INSIDE THE IMAGINATION OF MARCEL WANDERS
Discover how romance, craftsmanship and a sense of wonder shape Marcel Wanders’ creative world and his collaborations with Baccarat.
From sweeping curves to intricate cuts, Baccarat gives the familiar vase a sculptural presence.
BACCARAT: THE ART OF PRESENCE
A vase can hold a bouquet; it can also hold the attention of a room. The larger decorative works presented in Sydney explored that possibility, giving familiar objects the proportions and presence of sculpture.
A dragon unfolds in colour and gold across Baccarat’s Ginkgo Céleste Day Dragon vase.
The Ginkgo Céleste Day Dragon and Night Dragon Vases, each limited to 25 pieces worldwide, appeared alongside the Ginkgo Vase XL. At 57 centimetres wide, their expansive forms offered a counterpoint to the upright silhouettes of the Eye Oval Extra-Large, Célimène Large and Louxor Round Extra-Large Vases. Marcel Wanders’ Harcourt Flutissimo Vase introduced another change of proportion, adding a slender silhouette to the sculptural display.
Together, these works suggested how Baccarat crystal might inhabit a home: framing a reflection, accompanying a table or becoming the object around which a room takes shape.
The strength and grace of the animal world find expression in Baccarat crystal.
BACCARAT BESTIAIRE: THE WILD, HELD IN CRYSTAL
The animal sculptures brought a different kind of presence to the Sydney selection. In Baccarat’s Bestiaire, the curve of a body or the suggestion of movement gives crystal a recognisable character, inviting an instinctive connection with the natural world.
The Cecil Lion, weighing 25 kilograms and limited to 99 pieces, appeared alongside the Royal Tiger, a 23-kilogram creation limited to fifty. Their substantial scale gave the animals a sculptural authority that could be appreciated in person. The Polygon Pegasus Horse, limited to 99 pieces, introduced a mythical dimension, while the Marengo Horse recalled the historical horse that inspired its name.
Panthers offered several interpretations of feline grace. The Large Panther appeared in clear and midnight-blue crystal, alongside Georges Chevalier’s Héritage Panther and the midnight-blue Panther the Leap. The Imperator Eagle, also presented in clear and midnight blue, extended the selection from earth towards sky.
Across these Baccarat sculptures, colour and form gave each animal its own expression. Their appeal lay in that balance between recognition and imagination: a familiar creature, encountered anew through crystal.
EXPLORE BACCARAT’S ANIMAL WORLD
Discover the artists and stories behind Baccarat’s crystal animal sculptures in The Luminous Bestiary.
An evening of conversation and discovery, surrounded by the many expressions of Baccarat.
BACCARAT: A FRENCH STORY, A SYDNEY CHAPTER
For more than 260 years, Baccarat’s story has taken shape in crystal. In Double Bay, FormFluent gave that story a Sydney chapter, bringing its creations and its people together with those ready to discover them.
The works carried the history. The gathering gave it a place in the present.
An evening becomes part of a longer story when it gives something enduring a new place to belong. Through FormFluent, Baccarat’s French heritage found that welcome in Sydney.
