18 Light Lily Lamp

At Century Studios, we create a full spectrum of Lily Lamps that include table lamps, floor lamps chandeliers, ceiling fixtures, and wall sconces. These unique lamps are created using a combination of cast bronze parts, hand bent tubing, and mouth blown lily shades. We recently completed an 18 Light Lily Table Lamp for a client in Paris, France.

Bronze parts for these unique lamps are created by the lost wax casting method. Using molds taken from original Tiffany examples, a wax part is molded and then finished by hand. The waxes are taken to our local bronze foundry where they are encased in a mold material which hardens and is then baked to melt the wax out. Molten bronze is then poured into the hot mold and, once it has cooled, the mold is broken away and the raw bronze casting is revealed. After more hand chasing (cleaning), the bronze parts are ready for drilling and tapping to be screwed together and assembled into a finished lamp.

For each lily stem, tubing is hand bent to a specific shape. The stems are positioned and attached to a plate in the configuration specific for each style of lily lamp. The individual parts of the lamp are then given a Tiffany verdigris patina and once assembled and wired, the completed lamps is ready for display.

Lamp of the Week: 22" Nasturtium

Nasturtium flowers are often referred to as the jester of the garden, a moniker that comes from the fact that the word nasturtium literally means "nose twister" or "nose tweaker". These brightly colored ornamental plants are edible, and the flowers and leaves will add a peppery taste to salads and stir fry. The generously proportioned turban shape of the 22" Nasturtium shade provides an expansive canvas for these trailing plants to dance across in cheerful abandon. Saucer shaped leaves co-mingle with a multitude of the distinctly shaped flowers. Commissioned by an East Coast client in 2012, this colorful example was created by skillfully blending together ring mottled, streaky, granite textured, and rippled glasses. The shade is shown on the appropriately named Bird Skeleton base.

16" Snowball

Often mistakenly called a Hydrangea, this 16" shade takes its inspiration from the Snowball Viburnum. While the Hydrangea has a conical shaped flower, Snowballs have round flower heads that are lime green when they first open and change to white as the flowers mature.

The 16" Snowball shade is covered in flower clusters and has an irregular lower edge, giving the piece a naturalistic look. Heavily ring mottled glass was used throughout this shade to add fullness to the design.  This lamp was commissioned by a client in Illinois and is mated with the unusual Six Light Lily Pad base. Six "stems" ascend from the cast bronze base upward into the shade, each ending in a light. Due to the depth shade, the lights are positioned at two levels within the lamp.

Lamp of the Week: 14" Geometric w/Balls

One of the reasons no one can say exactly how many lamp patterns were produced by Tiffany Studios is because the creative minds at the Studios were always looking for new and interesting variations for their shades. This 14" Geometric w/Balls is an example of how a plain geometric shade is transformed by the addition of a row of three dimensional lustre glass balls. The hand made balls are held in place individually in a oversized jeweler's-style mount, allowing each translucent ball to pick up the light from inside the shade. Shown on the Shell Urn base, the shade was created in 2008 as a showroom piece and is now in a private collection.

Lamp of the Week: 28" Easter Lily

The 28" Easter Lily shade is a Century Studios original shade design which was conceived by Bill Campbell. To bring this highly detailed pattern to life, every type of art glass was employed, including streaky, ring mottle, rippled, fibroid, drapery, and fracture/streamer. The glasses were painstakingly chosen and the colors blended to create an impressionistic view of a garden of lilies in full bloom. This stunning shade was commissioned in 2016 by a client in Illinois and is in their private collection.

22" Turtleback

We recently completed a 22" Turtleback shade for a client in Colorado. To create the band of three dimensional tiles, we used an unusual set of amber turtlebacks that have hints of green throughout. The geometric background was cut from an amber glass with hints of red, which gives the shade a warm, woody look. The shade, shown on the Perforated base, is being installed as an inverted chandelier in the client's home.

Lamp of the Week: 18" Tyler

Commissioned by a New Jersey client in 2014, this 18" Tyler shade has an inviting personality. The playful amber and green scrolling ribbon breaks up the green geometric background, which is deeper at the top and lightens on the lower portion of the shade. Warm amber is used at the bottom of the design for balance. The shade is shown on the classic Decorated Trumpet base.

1000th Shade

When we opened our studio on June 1, 1986, we began keeping records of all the shades we have created. This past week, we completed our 1000th shade - a 16" Woodbine. This pattern has a geometric background that emulates a fence or trellis shape while the colorful woodbine leaves (also known as Virginia Creeper) clustered on the lower half of the shade.

Woodbine shades are the perfect canvas for showcasing unusually colorful glass, and this shade takes full advantage of the opportunity to employ impressionistic coloration. Beginning at the top with a heavily mottled, multicolored background glass that shifts from lush amber tinted with red, pink, and green, the background color switches to a fiery red at the bottom. Emboldened by the striking color shift in the background, the leaf clusters are a wild mix of colors inspired by the plant itself which dramatically turns from green to red as cooler temperatures nip the air in the autumn.

This 16" Woodbine was created as a showroom piece and is shown on the Leaf & Bud w/Collar Pottery Base. It is available for purchase in our showroom.