Born in 1848, Louis Comfort Tiffany was the son of a prominent jeweler in New York. Tiffany studied art in New York and Paris. He became a painter and interior decorator with a flair for Middle Eastern and oriental decor.

In 1875 Tiffany joined forces with Lockwood de Forest, Candace Thurber Wheeler and Samuel Colman, and founded Louis Comfort Tiffany and Associated Artists. He loved using stained glass for tiles, lamps, murals and windows. Tiffany's desire to concentrate on art in glass led to the breakup of this business. In 1885 Tiffany established his own glassmaking firm - Tiffany Glass Company, later becoming known as Tiffany Studios. Tiffany started a new factory, the Tiffany Glass Furnaces, in 1893.

Instead of painting on clear glass, he added metallic oxides and heated the glass to stain it, which in turn created beautiful colors. The hallmark of his work was his lustering technique, mostly used on vases. This process caused the surface to crackle into a multitude of tiny lines that would refract light.

Tiffany first commercially produced Tiffany lamps around 1895. He incorporated tiny sections of glass to create patterns such as dragonflies, flowers and butterflies. Bronze bases provided the perfect complement for the art glass shades. Tiffany-style lamps remain popular because of their beauty and craftsmanship.

Please feel free to contact our lighting specialists, seven days a week, with any questions regarding Quoizel Tiffany glass products.

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