Project of the Week: Autumn Screen

One of our more ambitious projects of the past was to recreate Tiffany Studios' Autumn Folding Screen. The original screen was on display for many years at the Lillian Nassau Gallery in New York City, so we were able to study the piece in person during our annual visits. We created this impressive screen in 1999 as a showroom piece. The screen was displayed in the 2007 ASID Design Show House in St. Paul and it is now in a private collection in Beverly Hills, California.

This project posed many exciting challenges, the first of which was to have the seven foot tall hinged framework made in metal by a local craftsman. Bill Campbell then drew full sized cartoons for the screen, and we began production of the panels.

The glass selected represented the best glass being made in the 1990's, and examples of every maker are included. Color, texture and transparency were carefully considered for each piece. Two layers of plating were used in portions of the upper panels to create depth and interest. The grapes were made from half round jewels that were then plated to create the subtle color variations in the clusters. The panels of green rippled glass at the bottom of the screen were done in the same Kokomo glass that was used in the original screen.