During the middle of the 17th century, Louis de Nehou, a French glass craftsman, developed a technique of casting and rolling plates of cast mirror glass. The glass was first produced for the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles. In 1688, Louis de Nehou received a royal patent to produce mirror glass in France in sizes of at least 60 x 40 inches (about 1.5 meters x 1 meter).
In 1693, the French glass cabins were assembled in Saint-Gobain, and Louis de Nehou became the first managing director. The cast mirror glass technique was groundbreaking and was used until the 1920s.