Tiffany Lamps: Reflections Of Color In Nature
L.C. Tiffany, the son of Charles Lewis Tiffany, began his career as an interior designer for the well to do of New York society. In the beginning his work was promted both by a love for color, and for the patterns and forms of near eastern design. The first recorded Tiffany lamps are captured in photos of the Byzantine style Havemeyer mansion in 1892. With bases decorated in sculpted bronze lizards, these leaded glass Tiffany lampshades contain all of the elements of classic Tiffany lamp design. Yet, six years would pass before another was seen in public.
During the 1890’s Tiffany showed a steady evolution toward more elaborate and progressive glass based designs. Due to short comings in other glass houses, Tiffany’s strong leadership skills and his fathers money, Tiffany decided to expand his operation. In 1893, construction began on a Tiffany glass factory in Corona, Long Island. This allowed Tiffany to design and use the colored glass that would become famous the world over. Initially his blown glass, “favrile” shades were both beautiful, and popular. The favrile method was unique in the fact that colors were poured into molten glass. It was not until 1898 that very different kind of lampshade would be produced.
Then, in 1898, several mosaic lamps are documented in a company workshop picture, seemingly with very little precedent. One floral shade is seen with other geometric shades nearby. One floral mosaic lamp is extant from 1898 as well. Amazingly, the acclaimed Tiffany dragonfly lamp is available by the next year, along with various models of floral leaded glass shades. The explosion in natural themes including Tiffany lamps using the nautilus, pond lily, primrose, butterfly, peacock, and other designs, had begun.
The quick transition from blown glass shades to mosaic, is perhaps not so surprising considering how well the small pieces of glass leant themselves to petal and leaf form. Because of this, nature found a home in a vast majority of Tiffany lamp designs. Oddly, Tiffany was slow in publicizing his new work. However, nature themes could be seen in the tree like forms of Tiffany floor lamps, and a few table models of blown glass shown in the 1900 World’s Fair in Paris France.
At this time Tiffany’s search for inspiration in nature began to preoccupy his personal life. Tiffany style lighting in the form of leaded floral, favrile, and stained glass was installed at his new home on Long Island. Here, he designed a landscape with multitudes of vines and creepers that overran trellis walkways and patios. Through these the sun shown, giving him naturally illuminated flora that inspired Tiffany lighting designs for years to come. The rest, as they say, is history.
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