Max Ingrand

Max Ingrand (1908–1969) was a French glass artist and designer, best known for creating stained-glass windows for major churches and for serving, from 1954 onward, as artistic director of the Italian lighting brand FontanaArte. A pupil of Jacques Grüber—considered one of the most important master glassmakers of his time—Ingrand produced, beginning in the 1940s, stained-glass windows for numerous churches throughout France, as well as for ocean liners, hotels, and theaters. The stained-glass window of the Church of Saint-Pierre in Yvetot is regarded as his masterpiece: covering an area of more than 1,000 square meters, it is one of the largest stained-glass works in Europe. In his role as artistic director of FontanaArte—then owned by the French group Saint-Gobain—Ingrand oversaw the creation of numerous lamps, including the iconic table lamp model 1853, so influential that it is still marketed today under the name “Fontana.” In 1968, shortly before his death, he co-founded his own lighting company, Verre Lumière, in partnership with the Saint-Gobain group.