The most influential representative of overseas Art Nouveau was Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933), the son of the founder of the homonymous jeweller’s shop in New York. His name is linked, above all, to glass manufacture, for which he was known and appreciated in Europe, too, thanks to his collaboration with “Maison Bing”. In 1878 he founded the “Louis C. Tiffany Associated Artists”, then “Tiffany Studios”, the most important assignment of which was the transformation of some environments of the White House. He also produced objects in series, but the most important works are handmade. In 1880 he patented an iridescent glass called favrile, that is made by hand.
His source of inspiration was, on the one hand, nature and on the other antique glass of Roman origin. He realized large windows and lamps with a bronze base and handmade (favrile) lampshades with irregular rhombs attached perpendicularly, with naturalistic motifs. His vases have an elegant form of common or exotic flowers, like the arisaema, or else free forms with iridescent effects and abstract decoration or forms imitating natural stones like agate and lava.
Itinerario Liberty - Planning and Realization - Stefano Pelosi - www.stefanopelosi.it