Derek Marshall Custom Lighting

historical notes on art glass:

Tiffany’s contribution

Art glass, sometimes called stained glass, the story goes, was invented by Louis Comfort Tiffany in the late 19th century.  I do not know that this is factually true, but it certainly might be.  The difference in these two types of glass depends on how the color came into the glass. 

Stained glass goes back centuries and is what we see in the windows of the great cathedrals in Europe. In this case, the glass itself is clear and the color is applied on one side of the glass. Tiffany, the story goes, had the coloring oxides added to the molten glass where it could be stirred in a controlled manner giving rise to many unique and desirable qualities all of which can be seen in the products of contemporary art glass manufacturers with their wonderful diversity of colors and textures. Please go to our glass images page to see good photographs of the glass we use, and be sure to request a free sample so you can see the quality for yourself.

For many years I had experimented with ceramic glaze formulations in our ceramic business.  (See examples on either side) It was a serious chemical business revolving around the many siliceous minerals in use in the current glass industry.  Color in all these cases is obtained from metal oxides such as copper, iron, cobalt, gold, etc.

Gradually our work became centered on using the art glass production of the best American formulators, arguably the best in the world.  There is a small fraternity of people who produce art glass, some of whom date back more than 100 years to the time when they were producing for Mr. Tiffany.  Of the thousands of different styles of art glass produced in this country, we have curated the best for our lighting designs.  See them all here and email us to get free samples of the ones that you would like to see firsthand. Only when you see the beauty of this glass firsthand can you appreciate the jewel-like quality of this medium.  Art glass is best seen with light transmission through the glass.  We design our lighting to maximize this quality.

Derek