Galle opened a small woodworkers shop in 1885 where he began experimenting in marquetry designs in furniture, and he continued working at his father's factory. In 1889, Emile Galle displayed his new glass creations at the Paris International Exhibition, designs and colors not previously seen and causing an immediate sensation. The new style of Art Nouveau had begun to appear, and Art Nouveau aesthetics and love of nature appealed naturally to the still young Emile Galle. Burgun, Schverer produced Galle's designs when he first established his studio, but in 1894 Galle built his own manufacturing plant in Nancy and began creating his own designs from inception through production. Galle personally created many of the designs, and he was known to actively make alterations and approve the designs of his talented team of designers and craftsmen he employed at the "Cristallerie D'Emile Galle."

Emile Galle c. 1895

Galle died in 1904 from leukemia at the age of 58, and his widow continued to make Galle glass designs in the factory until the advent of World War I in 1914 and still using his signature on the pieces but adding a star after the "Galle" following his death. After World War I, Paul Perdrizet, Emile's son-in-law, began producing Galle glass once again, even adding new designs and primarily making the multi-layer cameo glass in floral and landscape designs. Galle cameo glass was both wheel cut and acid eteched, both techniques which required fine craftsmanship to produce and in which layers of multi-colored glass is progressively removed to create the designs. All Galle production ceased in 1936 although reproductions and fakes are still made in great quantities to fool the uninformed.

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