Tiffany lamps are a style of lamp originally designed and pupularized by Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933). Louis Tiffany was the eldest son of Charles Lewis Tiffany, famous owner of the jewelry firm, Tiffany and Co., whose clients include aristocrats, presidents and even Queen Victoria of England.
Louis C. Tiffany refused to follow in his father's footsteps. He became a painter, known for his oil paintings and watercolors. Louis C. Tiffany also loved traveling, and his travels influenced his work, especially when he became interested in medieval glass. This interest in the manufacture of worked glass led Tiffany to another of her interests: interior design. Tiffany's goal was to increase and spread the status of the decorative arts to the level of the fine arts, and quickly became a name for itself the decoration not only the White House, but the houses of Mark Twain or Cornelius Vanderbilt.
tiffany lamp 2 Tiffany interior designs were characterized by their new passion: carefully crafted stained glass.
Tiffany founded his own company in 1885, based on glass manufacturing techniques, allowing colors and shades that were not used in glass to become popular. Around the same time, Tiffany was working with Thomas Edison to launch the first movie theater, the Lyceum. The new invention of Edison's electric bulb generated an idea in Tiffany. He could produce his exquisite stained glass windows in miniature form to serve as lampshades of light bulbs that would illuminate the stained glass, night and day. This is how Tiffany's lamp was born.
The Tiffany lamps were produced between 1885-1920, characterized by metal bases, decorated with unique stained glass windows. When Tiffany died in 1933 the popularity of the lamps had diminished, since the artistic tastes of the time had changed and their lamps were considered too showy.
Tiffany lamp However, in 1958 the Tiffany lamps again became popular in a retrospective exhibition of the artist that once again attracted the attention of museums and collectors. Today an original Tiffany lamp sells for more than 2 million dollars.
The Tiffany lamps available in department stores are Tiffany style imitations. Tiffany lamps usually have a polished brass base and the screen composed of many pieces of colored glass in different shapes and sizes.
Tiffany style lamps are so popular that even the best quality reproductions have their own cheap imitations of colored plastic. We can only imagine what Louis Tiffany would think of this, but the fact that his lamp has lasted for more than a century is part of the legacy of the man who wished to bring a little beauty to the homes of the people.
Opinions of our clients
Receive our news