Louis Comfort Tiffany & His Lamps

Louis Comfort Tiffany is an American designer and artist who had pioneered the art of stained glass lamp making. His innovation, the stained glass lamps, came to be known worldwide as Tiffany lamps, now an unavoidable decorative piece in many homes/hotels. Tiffany’s name is also closely associated with the Art Nouveau/Aesthetic movements.

The late 1800s and early 1900s witnessed new inventions and techniques in lamp making such as the patented translucent "milky" glass known as opalescent glass – by John La Farge – and stained glass lamps or the Tiffany decorative lamps by Louis Tiffany. In a sense, his technology was not entirely novel. He just used a technology that was totally confined to window pane decoration for centuries to the making of lamp shades. But the credit is still bestowed upon Tiffany because trying to migrate window pane technology to lamp shades, with every work being hand done, was quite an effort in itself. Also, then he had to create a market for the new lamps, which none was aware of existing then.

Louis Tiffany used thin copper foils to tape individual glass pieces, which are then soldered together to form the glass pane. In the old window pane technology, but there lead was used as the substance to hold the glass pieces together. Tiffany showed that by substituting lead with copper not only makes the glass weighs less, but also copper’s malleability ensures that finer lines and hence complex designs can be weaved in more easily to the stained glass shades or big and complex window panes used in churches.

In the days of Tiffany, the lamp shades were entirely handmade. Now, with the advent of technology and automation, nearly every process that goes on behind the scene of Tiffany lamp making has become automatic, with minimal human interference. Also, copper foils and colored glass has given way to more costly and cheaper substances. In fact, the reality that there is Tiffany lamps that costs hundreds and thousands of dollars will itself give one an idea as to what all materials can go into the making of fancy Tiffany lamps, even though lamp makers prefer to keep such information one of their trade secrets.

But critics, who see Tiffany lamp making as an art, say that fusing, slumping, and bending of glass in modern electric home kilns has in fact made the job a lot easier, and it had taken away the element of expertise that was required in the early days, a reality that in fact reflects in the Tiffany lamp shades that are available today in the market. But, on the other side of the coin, this is also the reason why Tiffany glass lamp making, the vocation, has become so common these days. The availability of factory made cheap glass in abundance, and improved training techniques have also contributed to more people taking to Tiffany lamp making as a profitable vocation. It is profitable because, across the globe, in homes and offices, Tiffany lamps are still a sought after décor item.

Brady Freeman is a regular contributor at Tiffany Lamps. A consumer based site that offers Tiffany wall sconces, and Water Features.