Tiffany Studios
Louis Comfort Tiffany first designed a lighting fixture utilizing glass in the mid-1880s when he was commissioned to design the interior of the Lyceum Theater in New York City, for which he collaborated with Thomas Alva Edison to produce a spectacular massive chandelier with opalescent glass shades in addition to a series of wall sconces - all powered by electricity, a rarity at the time.
Tiffany began to design more fixtures which incorporated the transmission of light through blown glass shades or pressed glass tiles throughout the late 1880s and into the 1890s, usually for specific interior design commissions including the Henry O. Havemeyer House in 1892 and... .
At the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, Tiffany's spectacular display included another monumental metal and glass ceiling fixture in his award-winning Chapel (preserved at the Morse Museum). This exhibition was also the first time Tiffany displayed his innovative designs in leaded glass; his display included a number of important leaded glass windows, a production line that had not only become a mainstay of his business through the ecclesiastical commissions but which he saw as an avenue to showcase the artistry that could be achieved through the technical mastery of glass.
The "Tiffany Lamp" as we know it today - incorporating an elaborate hand-cut leaded glass shade depicting a scene in rich detail - was not conceptualized until the late 1890s, when inspiration would strike in the Women's Glass Cutting Department where a team of talented young women both designed and cut glass by hand Tiffany Windows and Favrile Glass mosaics.
" ... Mr. Tiffany got wind and came down and said it was the most interesting lamp in the place and then a rich woman bought it and then Mr. Tiffany said she couldn’t have it, he wanted it to go to London and have another one made for her and one to go to Paris.”
– Clara Driscoll, head of the Women’s Glass Cutting Department at Tiffany Studios (April 6, 1899)
Louis Comfort Tiffany first designed a lighting fixture utilizing glass in ___ when he collaborated with Thomas Alva Edison on the interior of the Lyceum Theater in New York City, for which he produced a series of wall sconces.
This led Tiffany to design several more, usually for specific interior design commissions, which incorporated blown glass or pressed glass prisms and tiles.