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T iffany Studios’ use of the term “Fancy Goods” initially appeared in their 1906 Price List. Objects that fall under that category, however, were first made almost a decade earlier. The Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company established a foundry, capable of producing bronze castings of a phenomenal quality, in the late 1890s. Some of these initial objects, such as inkstands and powder boxes, were prominently displayed at Tiffany’s 1899 Grafton Gallery exhibition organized by Sigfried Bing. Their inclusion in an internationally acclaimed display is a clear indication of how significant Louis Tiffany saw these items, from both an artistic and marketing standpoint.
The department responsible for designing these objects was led by Clara Driscoll (1861-1944). She was the head of the company’s Women’s Glass Cutting Department and by 1899 was responsible for “all the portable objects in Favrile glass and metal combinations.” Driscoll, and the rest of the “Tiffany Girls” under her leadership, proved to be extremely adept at creating innovative designs that soon took advantage all the manufacturing skills and capabilities of the company.
Driscoll, with Louis Tiffany’s aesthetic and financial support in combination with the increased capacity of the company’s new foundry constructed in 1904, quickly expanded the number and variety of fancy goods. Desk accessories were extremely popular and the firm widely advertised these as works of art equally significant as their other products: “The skill with which the artist-craftsman has manipulated the metal alone…secures the fullest possible note in harmonious construction. Their beauty of color adds further pleasure in their use, and joy in their possession…. They are richly ornamental to be sure, but they are, also, immensely serviceable.”
Tiffany Studios manufactured desk sets in over twenty patterns, some of them comprised of up to fifty individual pieces. The first sets produced, appearing in 1905, were the “Pine Needle” and “Grapevine” designs that featured either white-streaked green glass with a patinated metal overlay, or a white-streaked amber glass combined with gilt metal. These were quickly followed in the following five years by the “Venetian,” “Ninth Century,” “Abalone,” “American Indian” and “Zodiac” patterns. Novel designs were regularly introduced and were based on, as Tiffany Studios acknowledged, a wide variety of influences: “An old book or symbol, the art of some ancient civilization, or the quaint conception of a medieval artisan often furnish the motif for a new set.”
The last design to come out of the company was the “Art Deco” desk set that appeared in the 1920s. Tastes were changing in the United States, moving quickly from the curvilinear themes of Art Nouveau to the geometric motifs of Art Deco. Louis Tiffany, reluctant to adapt to the new decorative trends, retired from active participation in the firm to focus on the art foundation he founded in 1919. This allowed Tiffany Studios, now being operated by Arthur Nash and his sons, to introduce new designs that would hopefully appeal to the changing times. The “Art Deco” pattern, with its etched metal surface and bold enameled geometric pattern in either blue, red, green or yellow, was one of the Nashs’ first efforts. Unfortunately, the set was not well received and production of it was limited, especially of the desk lamps and clocks, which accounts for its rarity today.
The desk sets were immensely popular with a broad appeal for both homes and offices, and the company continued to produce and widely advertise them until its closure in 1932. Tiffany Studios managed to transform a standard, prosaic desk accessory into an objet d’art to be treasured by its owner. Louis Tiffany, through his unique vision, imbued each item produced by his company with an artistry and sense of design rarely matched in American history.
