After the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, neighboring Alsace and a large part of Lorraine were ceded to the German Empire, but Nancy remained inside France.

The division resulted in a large exodus of French artists, artisans, teachers, and businessmen from German-occupied Lorraine to Nancy.

The manifesto of the school declared that utility should be the chief requirement of the work created, and that they should be designed, as much as possible, after the natural flora of Lorraine, especially ginkgo, pennywort, giant hogweed, water lily, thistle, gourd, and creatures such as dragonflies.

The members of the founding committee were Émile Gallé, Louis Majorelle, Jean-Antonin Daum, and ebenist and furniture designer Eugène Vallin.

The Daum brothers expressed their goal at the end of the 1880s: "to apply in an industrial way the true principles of decorative art.

The work of Gallé was greatly varied, with a rich assortment of colors, designs, and materials, including glass, ceramics, crystal, porcelain, and faience.

At the age of twenty, with the death of his father, though he had planned to be a painter and artist, he took over the family business making furniture and ceramics.

His ironwork creations included the elegant Art Nouveau stairway railing of the Galeries Lafayette Department Store in Paris (1900).

During this period, he presented finely-crafted furniture made of dark walnut, mahogany, snakewood, and hazel wood contrasting with the gilded bronze and hammered copper ornaments inspired by natural forms, such as water lilies.

[9] Nancy contains a number of Art Nouveau houses and buildings created and decorated by Majorelle and other School members.

It was constructed between 1901 and 1902, the peak of the Art Nouveau period, by the young Paris architect Henri Sauvage, with furniture and decoration by the members of the School of Nancy.