Staining

The first high-end stained glass lamp shades were notably from Louis Comfort Tiffany, the son of Charles Tiffany who established the famous jewellers that specializes in fine metalcraft and preciouse stones. Louis Comfort Tiffany was not only a merchant dealing in glassware, but was also considered a significant figure in the Art Nouveau movement of the time.

Tiffany's productions are now considered antique glass lamp shades, along with the creations of Handel and other notable artist designers. His designs were vivid and bold, both technically and artistically unparalleled. Tiffany's creations fortuitious coincided with the creation of the electrical light bulb, which illuminated his creations with a consistent intensity unmatched by gas lighting.

Early Career

Early in his career, Tiffany created many stained windows for buildings. From the outset, he bought colored panes but bent them to his own designs and creations. Till today, his scenes of nature and people continue to adorn churches and other buildings. Unlike some shades, the stained glass lamp shade is composed of pieces of glass embedded in a mesh of lead rods. This is reminiscent of Tiffany's stained window designs, also characterized by panels of colored panes fitted into lead rods that outlined the objects in his creations.

Mirroring Nature

Many of Tiffany's creations reflected elements of nature, such as his famous Wisteria lamp, which was made in a shape to rsemble purple flowers of the wisteria plant. Even the base was cast as a trunk of a tree or vine in bronze. Tiffany's affinity for shapes drawn from nature may have stemmed from his earliest career ambitions to become a painter. Likely he painted many scenes from nature. Ultimately, his painting was not an overnight success, and Tiffany gave it up to open up an interior design firm based in New York. There he started his stained glasswork and subsequently moved into stained glass lamp shades.

Class and Age

Tiffany felt deeply for his work and his craft, and was said to have declared that, "Craftsmen...are nearer the people, for they fabricate useful objects belonging to daily life, while the artist who produces objects of the fine arts, so called, is more remote." Even though Tiffany spoke highly of the "people", his clientele were largely drawn from the powerful and elite of his times. The works that he produced ended up going into mansions in New York, or into the White House. In the early 1900's, America was fired on the engines of prosperity, riding high on the "Gilded Age". Tiffany's products symbolize such an age succintly.

European Influences

How did Tiffany switch from interior design to such expressive and expansive glasswork such as stained glass shades? It is said that when he visited Europe, he was inspired by ancient glasswork from Venice and Roman times. Note that these were not antique glass lamp shades, but rather glass work for more mundane items like vases, glassware and other household items. He also visited an art exhibition which showcased the works of the artist known as Galle. Tiffany drew from the nature-inspired work of Galle to create his own in his stained window scenes and stained glass lamp shades.