L.C. Tiffany began his career as an interior designer for the wealthiest of New York society. In the beginning his work was inspired both by a love for color, and for the patterns and forms of near eastern design. The first recorded Tiffany table lamps are captured in photographs of the Byzantine style Havemeyer mansion in 1892. With bases decorated in sculpted bronze lizards, these leaded glass Tiffany lampshades contain all of the elements of classic Tiffany lamp design. Yet, six years would pass before another was seen.
During the 1890's Tiffany showed a steady progression toward more elaborate glass based designs. Due to shortcomings in other glass houses, Tiffany decided to expand. In 1893, building began on a Tiffany glass factory in Corona, Long Island. This allowed Tiffany to design and use the colored glass that would become world famous. Initially his blown glass, "favrile" shades were both beautiful, and popular. It was not until 1898 that very different kind of lampshade would be produced.
Then, in 1898, several mosaic lamps are documented in a company workshop photograph, seemingly with very little precedent. One floral shade is seen with other geometric shades nearby. One floral mosaic lamp is extant from 1898 as well. Amazingly, the acclaimed Tiffany dragonfly lamp is available by the next year, along with several models of floral leaded glass shades. The explosion in natural themes including Tiffany lamps using the nautilus, pond lily, primrose, butterfly, peacock, and other designs, had begun.
The quick transition from blown glass shades to mosaic, is perhaps not so surprising considering how well the small pieces of glass leant themselves to petal and leaf form. Because of this, nature found a home in a majority of Tiffany lamp designs. Oddly, Tiffany was slow in publicizing his new work. However, nature themes could be seen in the tree like forms of Tiffany floor lamps, and several table models of blown glass shown in the 1900 World's Fair.
At this time Tiffany's search for inspiration in nature began to preoccupy his personal life. Tiffany style lighting in the form of leaded floral, favrile, and stained glass was installed at his new home on Long Island. Here, he designed a landscape with multitudes of vines and creepers that overran trellis walkways and patios. Through these the sun shown, giving him naturally illuminated flora that inspired Tiffany lighting designs for years to come.
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