The very first Tiffany Lamp was created in 1895. It was created by Louis Comfort Tiffany. It would become one of the most popular and timeless of designs for decorative lamps. Originally Louis Tiffany had set up business in interior design from which he was able to practice his Stained Glass skills. But it was when he transferred these glass skills into his creation of lamps that the real magic occurred.
Tiffany lamps are basically lamps made with a lamp shade created from stained glass pieces fixed together using the 'copper foil method'. Simply put, a pattern for the design is drawn out on paper,the design traced onto glass and then the individual colored glass pieces are cut. Next these pieces get cleaned to allow the copper foil to stick to the edges. A copper foil solution allows the pieces to stick together. Once the final shape and set up of the lamp has been created this way, the final stage is to use a soldering iron along all of the temporary joins to make the lamp strong enough to last constant use. The many surviving Tiffany Lamps, are testament to the success and durability of Tiffany's technique.
The basic principles of stained glass work were scaled down and replicated in the new art form of the stained glass lamp, from there on to be known as the Tiffany Lamp.
