Edgar Brandt, born in Paris in 1880, still appears as an ambivalent figure ; famous blacksmith if any, he was also a brilliant industrialist, as an electrical goods and weapons manufacturer.
He learnt the job of metal worker at the Ecole nationale professionnelle of Vierzon and settled down in Paris in 1902 where he began his blacksmith career, his creations first being marked by the Art nouveau aesthetic. Thanks to extraordinary technical mastering and ingenuity, commissions flocked ; from 1919, Brandt opened a second studio and was commissioned the basis of the Flame of the Arc de Triomphe. While he collaborated with Ruhlmann for the realization of the Hôtel du Collectionneur at the occasion of the International Exhibition of Decorative and Industrial arts in 1925, he opened an art gallery where he exhibited pieces realized by his contemporaries, as well as some of his creations or collaborations, such as the ones with Daum or Lalique. Getting into mass weapons production in the 1920’s, Brandt never stopped his primary ambition, the realization of decorative or architectural objects and elements in wrought iron or bronze, which he sold through the entire world until the nationalization of his enterprise in 1936.