Maison Odiot

Founded in 1690, the House of Odiot gained notoriety during the reign of Louis XV with Jean-Baptiste Gaspard Odiot, one of the finest silversmiths of his time.

Napoleon and the Empire period opened a glorious chapter in the history of the House of Odiot: the extraordinarily talented Jean-Baptiste Claude, grandson of Jean-Baptiste Gaspard, received many prestigious orders from the Emperor and his family, such as the sacred sceptre and sword and the King of Rome’s cradle. Immense dinner services were ordered by Pauline Borghèse, by her mother and by the Emperor himself.
Influenced by the return of the antique style with frequent use of silver-gilt, the design of these sumptuous pieces and the virtuosity of their fabrication placed them amongst the best examples of French silverware. The reputation of the House of Odiot thus went far beyond the borders of the Empire and opened doors to all the Courts of Europe.
Charles Nicolas Odiot, who excelled in the rocaille style, succeeded his father and became the purveyor by appointment to His Majesty the King Louis-Philippe and to the Royal Family of Orleans.

He was later succeeded by his son Gustave who received the most important command ever to be accepted by the House of Odiot: 3000 pieces of solid gold flatware for Saïd Pacha, the Viceroy of Egypt. He later became the purveyor by appointment to the court of His Imperial Majesty the Tsar. Gustave was also the last member of the Odiot family to preside over the company, a reign spanning over two centuries.
Today, Nicolas de La Morinière presides over the House of Odiot which continues its prestigeous voyage towards the future: continually creating noble pieces of exceptional technical and artistic quality, the company and its craftsmen remain at the summit of their art…
Impressive craftsmanship and technical know-how have guided the House of Odiot for over 300 years: Odiot silversmiths still seek daily inspiration from its unique collection of technical drawings that date back as far as the 18th Century; their tools – such as anvils, burnishers, drawtongs and cross-pein hammers – have remained unchanged since the time of Louis XV.
Odiot craftsmen work noble materials: sterling silver, gold and bronze. For flatware 925/1000 pure silver is used, whereas 950/1000 pure silver is used for all other handcrafted pieces, as certified by the hallmark “Minerve du Service Français de la Garantie”. Each object crafted by the House of Odiot also carries the master silversmith hallmark, accepted as an unquestionable guarantee of quality all over the world.

Today, the House of Odiot brings together all the talents of the silversmith’s trade, where each handcrafted piece is passed from one master craftsman to the next: from the Founder at the forge to the Planisher, the Turner, the Chaser, the Settter and finally to the Polisher.
Ornamental masterpieces such as chandeliers, writing cases, vases, and hollowware – soup tureens, sugar bowls, trays and coolers – call for the most demanding silverworking techniques: spinning, where a silver disk is pressed onto an appropriately shaped rotating wooden chuck with long-handed, polished steel tools; sinking, where a flat piece of silver is hammered into a concave hemispherical shape; repoussé, a process used to roughly emboss an object from the back or inside; chasing, where decorative lines and motifs are meticulously cut into the metal; soldering; burnishing and polishing…

Numerous pieces, often first created by Jean-Baptiste Claude Odiot, include decorative figures which are works of art worthy of the finest sculptors: vestals, angels, sphinxes and fauns….