Are Tiffany Lamps Coming Back In Style?

Tiffany lamps are back in style. TV shows such as "The Gilded Age" have popularized the décor, and exquisite craftsmanship from the Art Nouveau period, from the late 1800s to the early 1900s, according to Delaware Live. Tiffany lamps are a treasured representation of the artwork produced during that period. In recent auctions, selling prices for original Tiffany glasswork came close to doubling the event's expectations, via Antiques and The Arts Weekly. These lamps are becoming popular again — but what makes a Tiffany lamp so distinctive?

Tiffany is a name that is synonymous with elegance and beauty. While the well-known jewelry store can be traced to artist and founder Charles Lewis Tiffany, his son created the Tiffany lamp. Louis Comfort Tiffany began making art glass in 1894 using a technique he called favrile, which means "hand-crafted," per Invaluable. The lamp is designed by assembling thousands of pieces of jewel-toned cut glass into a mosaic pattern. The significance of favrile glass is that the color is absorbed inside the glass and not merely applied to the exterior. Tiffany patented this process and subsequently won the Grand Prize at the Paris Exhibition in 1900. Over 100 years later, a Tiffany lamp will embellish the style of any modern home. Why is it the right time to add a Tiffany lamp to your décor today?

It's happening in fashion as well as home design. Prairie dresses and Coastal Grandma chic have reached new popularity on social media, and chintz furniture and florals are returning to home décor. According to CNN, grandmillenial style demonstrates how today's homeowners and their nostalgia are influencing the style of the modern day. Eric Ross, an interior designer in Nashville, states that "Grandmillennial style is about embracing tradition design elements and presenting them in a fresh way." He encourages individuals to "find the pieces from your mother or grandmother's collections that are timeless and classic" and incorporate them into their interior. A perfect way to follow his advice is to place a Tiffany lamp in your home.

Cath Kidston is a British designer whose prints are based on vintage patterns that have been restyled in modern ways. She claims that decorative elements reminiscent of the past convey a sense of warmth that makes a home feel cozy and secure, per Cath Kidston. A house that nurtures a reflection on the past becomes a place that provides a sense of durability and well-being.

Tiffany lamps also express a contemporary outlook by highlighting the beauty of nature and the outdoors. Louis Comfort Tiffany developed his work during the Art Nouveau movement, which believed that nature was a design inspiration and should be incorporated into home décor. Blending the beauty of nature with interior design can be as easy as installing picture windows that invite the outdoors inside or featuring decorative items with nature-inspired motifs and colors. Several of Tiffany's most famous lamps have designs with names like Daffodil and Dragonfly, per Lamps Plus Inc.

Charles Sable, the Curator of Decorative Arts at the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation, reflects on how Tiffany's love for nature is evident in his work and how this appreciation for the outdoors is not limited to any particular era. "Artists and designers associated with this trend looked to nature as their guide. As they often said, there is nothing historical about nature, it is universal," via The Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation. Placing a Tiffany lamp with a leafy image in one's home is a way to celebrate the beauty of the environment by featuring the work of an artist who did the same.

Another reason that Tiffany lamps are in vogue today is that people have found new inspiration for personalizing their spaces. The recent passing of stylish icons such as Lee Radziwill, sister to Jackie Kennedy, has filled social media with images of her elegant interiors, capturing the attention of a new generation and inspiring their interpretations. Readers who might be unfamiliar with styles of previous decades have seen these images and discovered irresistible trends that blend well with their modern homes. According to JWC Media, Lee Radziwill remarked, "I like to create rooms which are essentially traditional—and then add touches of the bizarre and the delicious ... when I buy something, I do so with the intention of keeping it forever. I'm constantly falling in love with objects, and they follow me around the world." 

A Tiffany lamp, for example, can serve as a vintage item in a modern space that provides a focal point of color and detail. The variety of Tiffany lamps ranges from botanical patterns to geometric designs that are consistent with the clean, straight lines of the Mission style, per Lamps Plus. Place a table lamp on a desk as a reading light, or position a Tiffany floor lamp next to a chair for ambient lighting in the room. Whichever style or height is chosen, a Tiffany lamp's jewel tones and exquisite craftsmanship will lighten the room with a gentle glow and embellish whatever surface it adorns.