Louis Comfort Tiffany, who lived from 1848 to 1933, was a true artist. He dabbled in interior design, photography, painting, gardening, and still found time to be a world traveler, a collector, and a manufacturer. The endless popularity of his Tiffany lamps, and duplication of his styles has proven him to be one of the greatest American craftsmen, designers, and unique artists.
His father was the founder of Tiffany and Company, the world famous jewelry company, but Louis preferred to work with oils and watercolors, and then moved on to interior design, rather than taking his place in the family business. In a chance meeting with Thomas Edison, who admired Tiffany's beautiful stained glass creations, they got together and created light fixtures.
Original Lava Lamps
Tiffany's technique for processing and making glass allowed for a larger range of colors, sheens, and textures, that the artisans grew to love. Over twenty years he came up with four new types of glass that he patented, and was the inspiration for many craftsmen that were manufacturing stained glass for windows and lamp bases, full fixtures and lamp shades. All Tiffany items were either designed only by Louis or by design artists that worked directly for him.
The bases of a Tiffany Lamps are usually of bronze, finely sculptured. Model numbers were given to every shade and lamp base. The shades consisted of many varying sizes of colored glass pieces held in place by copper foil, because of its strength and light weight.
His first lamps were named "Favrile" and means handcrafted. They were the simple shades that he made in the early years. These pieces were inscribed with either Favrile or L.C.T. on them. The later shades that used leaded glass had impressed tags with the signature on metal.
Tiffany style lighting comes in floor lamps, table lamps, wall sconces, and ceiling fixtures. There are several categories of lamp that you might consider. The geometric style of shades is of leaded glass and has simple designs such as squares, rectangles, ovals, and triangles that are used on shades that are shaped like globes, panels or cones.
The Tiffany lamps that follow the flower style combines both geometric design and some nature, such as beautiful flowers, peacock feathers, spider webs, vines, leaves, and dragonflies. He then altered the straight edge of the openings to allow him to simulate shrubs and the branches from trees in the actual shape of the shade. These irregular lines on both the upper and lower border are extremely complex and, therefore, are among the most expensive of his lamps.
If you are shopping for an original Louis C. Tiffany lamp you might look for designs such as Acorn, Apple Blossom, Arrowroot, Azalea, Bamboo, Black Bamboo, or Greek Urn. There will always be a signature on the lamp. His lamps are almost always unique ...one of a kind , with bronze bases and incredible stained glass that is rich in color and texture. However, today it is possible to get bases that are made from wood and other metals, by purchasing one of the good Tiffany Reproductions.