Faerie Magazine

Century Studios was featured in the Winter 2015 issue of Faerie Magazine. Faerie Magazine is a quarterly print publication that celebrates enchantment and real life fairy tales. The three page color spread has a short article about Century Studios which is illustrated with a number of stained glass windows and a lamp. Subscriptions and back issues of the magazine are available at www.faeriemag.com.

22" Dogwood

Large floral shades represent the best lamp designs created by Tiffany Studios. Inspiration, painstaking attention to detail, and much time is needed to successfully execute a large floral shade. We recently completed this 22" Dogwood shade. The completed shade is shown (above) on the Perforated base. This large base has six lights and telescopes so that it can be set at different heights. We began this shade as a piece for our showroom, but midway through the construction one of our local clients stopped into the studio and purchased the shade.

Bill Campbell took on the challenge of selecting the layout for this shade, a process that began with choosing background glass that would support the flower colors. In the end, Bill carefully blended five different glasses together to create an impressionistic backdrop for the flower colors. Once the background was in place, flowers were added individually to the layout.

The completed layout was put together on the light table to give the colors a final check before the process wrapping the edge of each individual piece of glass in a thin copper foil. Irwin then transferred the foiled pieces onto the wax covered form and soldered the shade together.

 

The completed 22" Dogwood from above. This design has an unusual configuration of border rows at the top of the shade. The glass for the borders was carefully chosen to enhance the colors of the finished shade.

Lamp of the Week: 20" Daffodil Turban

Daffodils were Louis C. Tiffany's favorite flowers, so it is not surprising that Tiffany Studios produced many different daffodil themed shades. One of our favorites is the 20" Daffodil Turban. On this design, flowers in full bloom are held in check by a number of horizontal border rows. In this shade, the lively yellow blooms play against the green leaves and blue background. The shade is shown on the Twisted Vine base. This shade is currently available for purchase from our showroom.

18" Cobweb

The 18" Cobweb shade is an unusual Tiffany Studios lamp design. The shade features six cobwebs hung among  the branches of a flowering apple tree. The upper portion of the shade is covered in tight buds and open blossoms, while the lower portion showcases the intricate cobwebs. Sculpted metal branches define the lower edge of the shade, which is faceted with flat areas for the cobwebs.

The deep blue sky blends down to multicolored glass in the tree/cobweb portion of the shade. One of the webs hides a spider, waiting patiently for an insect to drop by. This shade, shown on the 7 Handled Pottery base, was commissioned by a North Carolina client.

Lamp of the Week: 28" Wisteria

Appearing on lamps and in multiple windows, wisteria has always been associated with Tiffany Studios. We create four sizes of reproduction wisteria shades: 10" Pony Wisteria, 18" Wisteria (tree shape), and the lifelike 22" and 28" Wisteria shades. The larger shades were originally created as Laburnum designs, but with a shift in color Tiffany transformed them into wisteria shades. The generously proportioned 28" Wisteria makes an impressive chandelier fixture or large floor lamp. Created in 2007 as a showroom piece, this shade has blue, lavender and white blossoms intermingled with fresh green foliage. The irregular lower border and lobed shape of the lamp creates a naturalistic look to the shade. This piece is in a local collection.

Several Projects

We have recently completed several geometric lamp projects. The first pair of lamps was commissioned by a client in Maine. The 12" Geometric shade was made from a warm light amber/yellow glass. The shade is shown on the Mushroom base.

The second piece for this client is a Chain Mail Lantern. This fixture was made in an orange/amber tone.

We also completed a 12" Brickwork Geometric for a client in Las Vegas. This shade is done in red tones which compliment the gold lustre Lundberg blown glass lamp base.

Lamp of the Week: 7" Violet

At Century Studios, the 7" Violet shade is one of the smallest stained glass shades we create. Designed by Bill Campbell in 2006, the flowers on this original shade design are rendered life sized. The scale of the shade is perfectly matched with the Petite Lily Pad lamp base. The individual pieces of glass in this shade are often no larger than chips - especially the flower centers. The shade shown has a variety of purple flowers and green foliage set against a pale background. We have created several violet shades, but this first example remains in our private collection.

14" Crocus

The 14" Crocus is an unusual Tiffany Studios lamp design featuring naturalistic flowers in a stylized composition. The pattern has four repeats, which gives a traditional feel to the composition. Commissioned by a client in Massachusetts, the shade has pink and purple flowers against a light, airy background. The teal lower border provides the shade an underline of additional color. The shade is shown on the Swamp Flower base.

Century Studios Celebrates 30 Years!

On June 1, 1986, Century Studios was started by artists Irwin Terry and Bill Campbell with the goal to create exquisite Tiffany Reproduction stained glass lamps. Since that time we have moved twice, first in 1989 to our downtown Minneapolis studio and again in 2009 to our St. Paul location. We have expanded our lamp offerings from around 40 patterns to over 160 shade designs, and now produce more than half of the lamp bases we offer. To date, Century Studios has made over 950 individual stained glass lamps. We have also created hundreds of lily lamps, windows, suncatchers, and glass mosaic pieces.

The photo below shows our downtown Minneapolis studio circa 1989. The photo at the top of the post shows our St. Paul location.