Lamp of the Week: 18" Oriental Poppy

The 18" Oriental Poppy is a wonderfully detailed Tiffany Studios shade design. Red poppy flowers have long been a symbol of sacrifice and remembrance in western culture. This example, created in 2014 for a local client, has an explosion lush red and orange poppies set against vibrant blues, purples, and greens. Three horizontal border rows barely contain the exuberant blooms as they create a three dimensional vista of color. The shade is shown on the elegant Library base (22.5" tall).

Century Studios Anniversary

June is anniversary month at Century Studios. Irwin Terry and Bill Campbell opened the studio on June 1, 1986. After three years of working from our home, we moved the Studio to a commercial storefront in the North Loop of downtown Minneapolis on June 1, 1989. 

These are a couple photos of our Minneapolis studio showroom. Our work space was in two rooms through the center door at the back of the first photo.

On June 1, 2009 we moved to our current studio space at 1816 St. Clair Avenue in St. Paul, MN. This is the St. Paul studio space under construction.

Here is the space transformed into Century Studios. The large Autumn Screen made the move to the new studio and was purchased by a client in California. We currently do not have nearly as many lamps made up in our studio showroom, but we are working on new pieces every day and visitors are welcome to stop by and see what we are creating.

Here is a vintage photo of Irwin Terry and Bill Campbell in the Minneapolis studio from 1990.  Thank you to all of our clients who have made it possible for us to celebrate 38 years in business!

22" Laburnum Continued

As the construction on the 18" Wisteria was wrapping up we continued to make progress on the 22" Laburnum. We usually do not follow one very elaborate lamp directly with another, but sometimes they overlap.

The 22" Laburnum has 1986 individual pieces of glass and each piece must be precisely laid out, cut, fit, and then foiled by hand. Bill Campbell is busy foiling a section of the lamp.

Once completely foiled, each piece is transferred to the lamp form individually. The Fiberglas form has been coated with our house made tacky beeswax so the pieces will remain in place for soldering.

The form is then clamped onto our custom made shade holder for soldering. We are able to turn the shade to any angle for soldering. In this photo, the unique lobed shape of the 22" Laburnum can be seen. The undulating shape lends an additional touch of interest to the finished shade.

Lamp of the Week: 13" Venetian

With its intricate detailing, the 13" Venetian shade has the look of a delicately enameled Faberge Egg. Originally conceived to accompany the Venetian desk set, this petite shade has a higher piece count than most of the 22" shades we offer. The Venetian has 1148 individual pieces of glass. For comparison, a 22" Elaborate Peony shade has 1038 and a 22" Tulip has 1125 pieces. Each piece was laid out, cut by hand, and fit to the flat pattern. 

The golden fretwork creates vignettes where grey/blues and mottled greens are punctuated by exclamations of red and orange. Shown on the Zodiac base (16" tall) this lamp was created in 2020 for a client.

18" Wisteria

The iconic 18" Wisteria is one of Tiffany Studios' signature lamp designs. The crown of cast bronze branches at the top of the shade flows into cascading flowers that finish with a naturalistic undulating lower edge.

Flowers in shades of blue and purple have been skillfully blended in a tapestry of color. Highlights and shadows interplay across the surface, giving the piece a sun dappled look. The blue background glass shifts to a more transparent density lending a three dimensional effect to the piece, while the fresh green leaves enliven the shade.

Designed to mate with the Tree Trunk base (23" tall) this impressive shade has 1945 individual pieces of glass. With its integrated shade and base, the Wisteria lamp is a masterpiece of lighting design. This lamp was created for a client in North Carolina.

 

Lamp of the Week: 10" Acorn

Tiffany Studios' Acorn design (originally called a Vine Border) appears in a variety of sizes. At Century Studios, we recreate Acorn shades in the 10", 12", 14" 16", and 20" sizes. The 10" Acorn shade, shown here on the delicate Queen Anne's Lace base (total lamp height 17"), works well as a small accent lamp in any interior. We created this shade and base for a client in 2003.

Two Lamps Progress

This past week we made headway on the two elaborate shades we have in progress. Bill Campbell continued the layout of the 22" Laburnum shade. With just under 2000 pieces of glass, this is a shade that takes concentration and commitment to create.

Each of the pieces is individually laid out, cut and fit to the pattern by hand. The piles of pieces may appear chaotic, but the pieces are organized and the patterns are numbered so each piece will find it way into place on the layout.

Irwin continued soldering on the 18" Wisteria while Bill worked on the laburnum shade. Multiple copper reinforcement wires were soldered on the interior of the shade. These vertical and horizontal wires give the shade strength.

Once the interior was completely soldered, Irwin began applying a half round copper wire to fortify the irregular lower edge of the shade. In the photo the horizontal reinforcement wire is visible. The wires are soldered along the lead lines and are not noticeable when viewing the completed shade.

Applying the copper wire around the lower edge takes patience and a practiced hand. The wire is flexible but is still stiff enough to give the edge strength.

Lamp of the Week: 25" Fish Scale

The 25" Fish Scale is a large helmet shaped shade that can be used as a table lamp, floor lamp or chandelier. The glass shifts from celadon green at the top down to green with amber on the lower half of the shade. We also gradually shifted the density of the glass from top to bottom to emphasize the color shift. The shade is shown on the Twisted Vine base (26" height with a tall riser). This meticulously crafted shade was commissioned in 2017 by a client in California.    

 

18" Wisteria

The 18" Wisteria has been our primary project throughout the month of May. Bill Campbell selected the glass and did the layout for this elaborate lamp. This 18" shade has 1945 individual pieces of glass, each of which must be cut, fit to the pattern, and then foiled by hand with precision.

Once the pieces had been foiled they were transferred onto the wisteria lamp form and held in place by our house made tacky wax. This shade has a cast bronze crown at the top that mates with the sturdy Tree Trunk base.

After transferring all the pieces onto the form, Irwin Terry began the process of soldering the shade. Cast branches extend from the crown into the glass portion of the shade, enhancing the three dimensional look of the lamp.

We usually try to follow up an elaborate project with a smaller shade but Bill Campbell moved right into the layout for a 22" Laburnum after we completed the foiling on the wisteria. The laburnum has just as many intricate pieces as the wisteria.