Innovating for Tiffany: Arthur Nash & Sons

Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933) felt creatively limited after several years of working with the commercial glass available in the late 19th century. As part of his personal quest to achieve the highest level of beauty possible in his art, in 1893 Tiffany opened his own glass furnaces in Corona, Queens, hoping to push the material to new heights. 

To fully realize his artistic vision, Tiffany sought out the finest contemporary craftsmen and designers from America and Europe. Perhaps the most important of these collaborators was Arthur Nash (1849-1934), an inventive English glass chemist who began his career working for Edward Webb in Stourbridge before he was enticed to New York by Tiffany. Nash became the head of Tiffany’s glass furnaces and was a key figure in the company’s storied history. Together, Nash and Tiffany developed Favrile Glass, Tiffany’s trademark material.  They conducted detailed experiments with materials and unconventional techniques, resulting in innovative textures and colors which allowed for the increasingly complex and naturalistic compositions desired by Tiffany.

The developments at Tiffany Furnaces allowed Tiffany and his designers to utilize glass to create textures, effects and even obects that had never before been conceived, earning the name Tiffany lasting fame.