In 1667, the glass-making was transferred to a small glass furnace already working at Tourlaville, near Cherbourg in Normandy, and the premises in Faubourg Saint-Antoine were devoted to glass-grinding and polishing the crude product. Life in Paris proved distracting to the workers, and supplies of firewood to stoke the furnaces were dearer in the capital than elsewhere. Nicolas du Noyer complained in writing that the jealous Venetians were unwilling to impart the secrets of glassmaking to the French workers and that the company was hard-pressed to pay its expenses. Competition between France and the Venetians became so fierce that Venice considered it a crime for any glass artisan to leave and practice their trade elsewhere, especially in foreign territory. The French company was capable of producing mirrors that were 40 to 45 inches long (1.0 to 1.1 m), which at the time was considered impressive. Soon the mirrors created in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, under the French company, began to rival those of Venice. The first unblemished mirrors were produced in 1666. To compete with the Italian mirror industry, Colbert commissioned several Venetian glassworkers he had enticed to Paris to work for the company. The company had the informal name Compagnie du Noyer. The beneficiary and first director was the French financier Nicolas du Noyer, receiver of taxes of Orléans, who was granted a monopoly of making glass and mirror-glass for a period of twenty years. The company was created for a period of twenty years and would be financed in part by the State. Ĭolbert established by letters patent the public enterprise Manufacture royale de glaces de miroirs ( French pronunciation: , Royal Mirror-Glass Factory) in October 1665. French minister of finance Jean-Baptiste Colbert wanted France to become completely self-sufficient in meeting domestic demand for luxury products, thereby strengthening the national economy. At the time, however, the French were not known for mirror technology instead, the Republic of Venice was known as the world leader in glass manufacturing, controlling a technical and commercial monopoly of the glass and mirror business. In the 1660s, mirrors had become very popular among the upper classes of society: Italian cabinets, châteaux and ornate side tables and pier-tables were decorated with this expensive and luxurious product. Since the middle of the 17th century, luxury products such as silk textiles, lace and mirrors were in high demand. Originally a mirror manufacturer, it now also produces a variety of construction, high-performance, and other materials. ( French pronunciation: ) is a French multinational corporation, founded in 1665 in Paris and headquartered on the outskirts of Paris, at La Défense and in Courbevoie. ( February 2023) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message)Ĭompagnie de Saint-Gobain S.A. Please help improve it by removing promotional content and inappropriate external links, and by adding encyclopedic content written from a neutral point of view. This article contains content that is written like an advertisement.
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