Mermaid w/Nautilus Lamp

Mermaids, the legendary half human/half aquatic creatures, have appeared in folklore and inspired artists of every civilization for thousands of years. The Mermaid w/Nautilus Shell is a unique Tiffany Studios lamp design. The cast bronze mermaid rises out of a churning sea carrying a lighted nautilus shell above her head. The mermaid base was sculpted by artist Louis Gudebrod, the only lamp base artist credited by Tiffany Studios. 

The stained glass nautilus shell is a complicated shade design that curls into itself. When laid flat, the design resembles the horns of a ram. The process of transforming the flat pattern pieces into a three dimensional shade is as painstaking as it looks. Our client requested the shade to have a undersea look to the glass color, and we used a mossy green and white mix that worked perfectly.

The shade is built on a wooden form in interlocking sections which are carefully assembled to create the finished shell (this production photo is from an example created at our studio in 2009). 

The lighting for the shade must be carefully created and positioned inside the small interior of the shell. This lamp was commissioned by a client in North Carolina.