Coco Chanel, Jean Cocteau, Colette or Picasso each had their own Lampe Berger

It was in 1898 , that the amazing lampe berger story started. In response to a major preoccupation at that time – a sepsis in hospitals – maurice berger, a pharmaceutical dispenser, invented a system of diffusion by catalysis, for which he filed a patent. This revolutionary technology, which purifies the air in enclosed rooms, was soon to be applied for private use , giving birth to the lampe berger company.

The little lamp which destroys bad smells saw its apogee during the1930s: fragrance provided the dimension of pleasure; the lampe berger became a collector’s item, each lamp being associated with a designer and major manufacturer such as cristal de baccarat, cristalleries de saint louis, emile gallé, rené lalique, and then the top porcelain producers of the 1950s.

The lampe berger became a feature at the salons of the belle epoque, and the oil lamp developed a new function, adding fragrance – for scented oils that made lampe berge even more popular.