Louis Comfort Tiffany

Louis Comfort Tiffany was born in 1848 to businessman Charles Tiffany who owned New York Fifth Avenue's Tiffany & Co. Before he studied medieval stained glass Tiffany trained as an artist. He was intent on becoming a glass maker with his artist passion fuelling his innovative glass design and Art Nouveau inspired leaded works. Louis Comfort Tiffany was to become a household name inspired by the works of William Morris and the Arts & Crafts movement.

With the help of the Society of Decorative Art, Lockwood de Forsest, Samuel Coleman and Candace Wheeler, Tiffany founded Louis Comfort Tiffany & the Associated Artists in 1879, breaking associations in 1885 to establish the independent Tiffany Glass Company. To supply metal fitments to the glass factory he established Tiffany Studios in 1892. Tiffany Glass and Decorating Co. was founded in 1892 from which date art glass was commercially produced under the management of Arthur J. Nash who was to remain loyal to Tiffany until 1919 when they both retired.

In 1933 Louis Comfort Tiffany died, but not before becoming one of the foremost manufacturers of leaded lamps and glass of the 20th century.