The most famous of the two brothers, Charles Schneider was born in Chateau-Thierry, near Paris, on 23rd February 1881. When he was a young child his family relocated to Nancy, the artistic centre of France. In 1904, he went to the Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts in Paris and then trained at Daum with his brother, Ernest Schneider (1877-1937).

In 1913, the brothers decided to start their own business and bought a small glass factory, specialising in electric light bulbs, in association with a friend Henri Wolf. This factory was known as ‘Schneider Freres & Wolf’. At the outbreak of the World War I, the firm's activity had to be stopped and the glassworks closed by the end of 1914. Then in 1917 the factory re-opened under the name "Societe Anonyme des Verreries Schneider". At this time the factory produced mainly cameo glass with floral designs. Apart from the introduction of art glass, half of the production was of commercial drinking glasses. In 1918, fire destroyed the studios at Galle and a group of artists went to Schneider’s to continue their production for Galle. This period was a huge impact on Schneider because of the many techniques he acquired from the Galle technicians who joined Societe Anonyme des Verreries Schneide.

By 1920, the factory was working at full capacity making mainly art glass. Various new designs were created and the factory expanded to employ about 500 workers. At this time, the company was at its peak due to the good designs of the previous years, such as the new style created in the 1920’s using new shapes and contrasting colours by applying black foot and handles to brightly coloured vases and coupes, which gave them a more dramatic effect.

Always innovative, Schneider also created a new technique of ‘coloured powders’ whereby the pulverised glass was mixed with metal oxides to obtain different colours and then spread on a flat surface. Most of Schneider’s art vases and lamps at this time were exported to America. After the Wall Street crash of 1929 demand dwindled and the factory started to decline. During the 1930’s production of art glass was down to a few pieces a day as they concentrated on making simple designs with less colours for the local market.

In 1950, Charles Schneider and his son founded a new glassworks at Epinay-sur-Seine, named "Cristalleries Schneider", which was later transferred to Lloris after an accident caused by a gas explosion. Like the old Schneider factory, this one specialised in free-blown glass, but this time, the glass was lead crystal, which had come back into favour in Europe. It was no longer cut, but worked almost exclusively by free-blowing and drawing. All the productions were signed "Schneider France".

Charles Schneider senior died in 1953. The Cristallerie Schneider operated until 1957, when the factory was destroyed by an explosion. Schneider Art Glass was made until 1981 when the factory closed its doors for the last time.