In the year 1885, Tiffany opened the Tiffany Glass Company in Corona Queens, New York, and continued to design interiors and expand his glass making techniques and objects which he used to adorn his homes and those of his wealthy clients.
Because of his messy experimentations with different techniques, acids and chemicals, Tiffany was asked to leave the glass making factories on the waterfront in Brooklyn, New York where he began his investigations in the glassmaking process. Luckily, Tiffany had the funds to start his own glass factory. Introduced to the public in 1885, after years of experimentation, Tiffany art glass was like no other consumers had ever seen. It was a sensation, universally praised, and widely imitated. The glass was manufactured at the Tiffany factory located at Corona from 1885 to 1932. Tiffany Studios was arguably the most accomplished maker of Art Glass in the world in its day and undoubtedly one of the best of all time.
The firm transformed the merely useful domestic objects into something of rare beauty. Tiffany and his artisans mastered this medium of color, form, and technique. The objects were blown into amazing shapes and formulated into brilliant, often lustrous, hues. Of endless variety, some were made with pitted textures, others were layered to produce special effects, and still others were manipulated to create undulating, mesmerizing patterns.
Tiffany art glass was inspired by an array of sources—antiquity, horticulture, rocks, the flow of lava, and, most of all, Tiffany’s own powerful imagination. Through the exploitation of chemistry, mechanics, and the logistics of production, the artist was able to translate his ideas into splendid objects of astonishing originality. “The search for beauty is in itself the most wholesome of all quests,” Tiffany wrote in an article for Harper’s Bazaar in 1917. Tiffany’s blown-glass vessels, prestigious to own and display in an era of expanding industrial wealth, provided the artist’s crusade for beauty with a new path into the American home.
Next week I will continue this discussion of Tiffany’s glassmaking genius delving deeper into his techniques and processes, taking the science of glassmaking and elevating it to an art form of new brilliance and beauty.
TIP OF THE WEEK:
Look at the incredible beauty of nature that surrounds us in this wonderful state and use it as inspiration for your creative process.
Maybe you’ve been meaning to start a new series or change your color palette. Whatever the reason, just step outside and let the beauty of nature inspire you.
Be well,
Eileen 🙂
(20+) Eileen Marquez | Facebook
