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L. C. Tiffany & Company

Name: L. C. Tiffany & Company
Biography/History: In 1848 Louis Comfort Tiffany was born into the New York family that had founded Tiffany & Co., famous for its jewelry and other fine merchandise. Louis C. Tiffany "adopted his father's interest in every day objects of taste eventually turning to interior decoration as a way to provide good art for American homes." In 1879 he and several other interior designers formed a partnership called L. C. Tiffany and Associated Artists that lasted until 1883. This group executed commissions for many wealthy and famous clients, including Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) and President Chester Arthur, for whom they redecorated several public rooms at the White House. A new firm, the Tiffany Glass Company, began in 1885; Tiffany had developed specific patented types of glass. Tiffany had a rich sense of color and a love of nature which emerged in the forms of flowers, birds, vines and trees in the colored glass windows he was creating for homes and public buildings. In 1892 he renamed the firm Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company, and opened his own glass furnace at Corona on Long Island. Here he began to blow glass and develop the designs for lamps for which the company has become known. The company name changed again in 1900 to Tiffany Studios, which differed from other workshops by the production of it's own glass. They produced over 500 styles of lamps and bases, most signed "Tiffany Studios, New York." By 1932, Tiffany Studios declared bankruptcy, and a year later L. C. Tiffany died. Over the course of twenty years Tiffany had patented four types of glass, and "worked with teams of craftsmen organized into several companies that manufactured stained glass windows, lamps, jewelry, mosaics and art glass... after years of experimentation, Tiffany mastered techniques that enabled him to create glass in an almost limitless range of colors and textured patterns. No two pieces are exactly alike."
Related Objects:
1323.25 (Spoon, Ear Wax, Ear Wax Spoon)
2028.28 (Urn, Decorative, Glass urn, Tiffany & Company)
2962.324 (Saltcellar, Salt cellar, Tiffany Studios)
3321.24 (Set, Flatware, Cocktail Sword Set, Louis C. Tiffany & Company)
3321.77 (Lamp, Floor, Louis C. Tiffany & Company Floor Lamp)
3358.6 (Cup, Favor, Nut cup, Tiffany Studios)
3469.1 (Dish, Candy, Favrile Glass Candy Dish, 1918-1928)