The firm of Cottier & Co. was founded by the artist, designer, decorator and art dealer Daniel Cottier.
Cottier had trained as a coach painter in Glasgow but by the 1860s was working as a glass designer in London where he heard lectures given by the critic John Ruskin and received drawing lessons from the artist Ford Madox Brown. Returning to Scotland he eventually opened his own business in 1864, which would grow to become a highly successful international organisation with branches in London, New York, Sydney and Melbourne.
Cottier was interested in glass, furniture, ceramic manufacture, and interior design. In the United States he is seen as a...
'harbinger of aestheticism' and a 'profound influence on American decoration'.
A key exponent of the aesthetic movement, Cottier developed a very original and highly distinctive style, employing to great effect delicately painted surface decoration often on gold or ebonised ground providing bold contrast. His designs frequently drew on the prevailing Japanese aesthetic associated with the aesthetic movement but also on other ancient sources.