A Trip to Chicago

This past weekend, Century Studios was closed while we went an a whirlwind trip, driving to Chicago and back. On Sunday we visited the Driehaus Museum in downtown Chicago. This 1880's Gilded Age home has been meticulously restored by Richard H. Driehaus to its original glory and is open for visitors and tours.

In addition to the impressive home itself, Mr. Driehaus has furnished many of the rooms with portions of his collections of furniture, fine art, stained glass windows, and works by Tiffany Studios. Several rooms on the first floor have impressive lamps and fixtures by Tiffany. The smoking room at the front of the house features one of two 24" Curtain Border floor lamps on display.

On the second floor, there are two exquisite Tiffany Studios chandelier fixtures, one with golden turtleback tiles and the other featuring light green tiles. Both fixtures have blown lily shades near the top of the fixtures.


The museum is open most days and guests can take guided tours with docents or enjoy the experience with a "self guided" tour.

We often are asked where we get our hand rolled art glass. Because our sheet glass is created by several glass foundries located across the United States, it can be difficult to visit each foundry individually.

We find it easier to travel to the Chicago area and hand select our library of glass from the largest wholesaler in the country. On Monday morning, we got down to the serious business of selecting glass. Irwin is seen selecting glass made in Pennsylvania, while across the isle we selected from glass made in West Virginia. We also chose glass from companies located in Indiana and Oregon. The glass is now being crated and will be shipped to our studio later this week.