We have all heard of them, we have all been enchanted by their diamonds. Here is the story behind Tiffany & Co.
For centuries they have been around, a trademark for luxury and diamonds, a brand for royalty and superstars. But when and how did it all start?
The 1830s in New York City were a time of dynamic growth and golden opportunity for anyone with a little capital and an abundance of imagination. In 1837 New York became the proving ground for 25-year-old Charles Lewis Tiffany and John B. Young, who opened a “stationery and fancy goods” store with a $1,000 advance from Tiffany’s father.
The young entrepreneurs were inspired by the natural world, which they interpreted in patterns of simplicity, harmony and clarity.
Tiffany first achieved international recognition at the 1867 Paris World’s fair. The company was awarded the grand prize for silver craftsmanship. Tiffany was the first American company to employ the British silver standard (92% pure). Largely through the efforts of Charles Lewis Tiffany, this standard was adopted by the U.S. Government.
The Tiffany & Co. silver studio was the first American school of design. Apprentices were encouraged to observe and sketch nature, and to explore the vast collections of sketches and artwork assembled by Edward C. Moore, the celebrated silversmith and head of the studio.
By 1870 Tiffany & Co. had become the America’s premier silversmith and purveyor of jewels and timepieces. At the turn of the 20th century the company had more than one thousand employees and branches in London, Paris, and Geneva.
Having introduced major gemstones to the United Stated through purchases of the crown jewels of France and Spain, Mr. Tiffany’s enterprise was now the world’s diamond authority.
At the same time, the world had embarked on the Age of Expositions that took place in Europe and America. At every venue, Tiffany won the highest honors. The company’s exhibit at the 1889 Paris fair was heralded as “the most extraordinary collection of jewels ever produced by an American jewelry house.”
Tiffany produced an equally praiseworthy collection for the 1900 Paris fair, along with magnificent silver pieces based on Native American designs.
This unprecedented number of awards led to Tiffany’s appointment as Royal Jeweler to the crowned heads of Europe, as well as the Ottoman Emperor and the Czar of Russia.
In 1878 Tiffany acquired one of the world’s largest and finest fancy yellow diamonds from the Kimberley diamond mines in South Africa. Under the guidance of Tiffany’s eminent gemologist, Dr. George Frederick Kunz, the diamond was cut from 287.42 carats to 128.54 carats with 82 facets, which gave the stone its legendary fire and brilliance. Named the Tiffany Diamond, the stone became an exemplar of Tiffany craftsmanship.
In 1886 Tiffany introduced the engagement ring as we know it today. Previously, diamond rings were set in bezels. But Mr. Tiffany’s ring was designed to highlight brilliant-cut diamonds by lifting the stone off the band into the light. This famous ring was named the Tiffany® Setting. To this day, it is the most sought-after symbol of true love.
With the death of Charles Lewis Tiffany in 1902, Louis Comfort Tiffany, the founder’s son, became Tiffany’s first art director. His position as America’s leading designer was well established by 1882, when President Chester Arthur invited him to redecorate the White House.
By 1900 the younger Tiffany was a world leader in the Art Nouveau and Arts and Crafts movements. The famed artist created a remarkable range of designs, from technically brilliant leaded glass to colorful enameled and painterly jewels based on American plants and flowers.
Throughout the jeweler’s history, the most prominent members of American society were Tiffany customers. Vanderbilts, Astors, Whitneys and Havemeyers adorned their evening dress in Tiffany diamonds and commissioned the company to produce gold and silver services.
President Lincoln purchased a seed pearl suite for his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, in 1861; and a young Franklin Roosevelt purchased a Tiffany engagement ring in 1904.
As the 20th century progressed, Tiffany designs captured the spirit of the times, from the extravagance of the 1920s to the modernism of the 1930s and the aerodynamic age of the 1940s and 1950s.
Tiffany china set the stage for White House dinners and Tiffany jewels accented the elegant clothes of the world’s most glamorous women, including Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Elizabeth Taylor and Diana Vreeland.
Very often Jean Schlumberger created their jewels. This great 20th century jewelry designer arrived at Tiffany in 1956. His bejeweled flowers, birds and ocean life remain the pride of Tiffany & Co.
In 2012 Tiffany marked its 175th anniversary. In honor of this milestone, the Tiffany Diamond was reset in a magnificent necklace of dazzling white diamonds. After traveling to gala celebrations in Europe, Asia and the United States, the diamond in its new setting returned to its permanent place of honor on the Main Floor of Tiffany’s Fifth Avenue store.
This priceless gem is symbolic of a heritage based on the highest standards of quality and design excellence. These standards have made Tiffany & Co. one of America’s great institutions, a world-renowned jeweler with over 200 stores worldwide, and something more: the trusted maker of gifts that will be treasured for a lifetime.
Photos in this story:
- DONALD CLAFLIN JEWELRY DESIGNS
Photo credit: Carlton Davis
Donald Claflin jewelry designs, from left: sapphire ring with colorless and yellow diamonds; amethyst brooch with diamonds and emeralds; yellow beryl brooch with diamonds; sapphire ring with colorless and yellow diamonds; green tourmaline brooch with emeralds; colorless and yellow diamonds; sapphire ring with emeralds and diamonds
- CHARLES LEWIS TIFFANY AND CHARLES T. COOK
Photo credit: The Jewelers’ Circular
Company founder Charles Lewis Tiffany is seen here in his Union Square store at the age of eighty-seven, with Charles T. Cook, who assumed the reins of leadership after Tiffany died in 1902.
- THE NEW YORK FLAGSHIP
Photo credit: © Andrew Bordwin
In 1940, Tiffany & Co. moved to its current location at 727 Fifth Avenue, at the corner of Fifty-seventh Street. The granite and limestone building, with Art Deco influences and stainless steel doors, is adorned with a nine-foot bronzed figure of Atlas shouldering a clock.
- CHARLES LEWIS TIFFANY
Photo credit: Courtesy Tiffany & Co.
Charles Lewis Tiffany (1812-1902), Founder, Tiffany & Co.
- The Tiffany Diamond:
JEAN SCHLUMBERGER’S RIBBON ROSETTE NECKLACE
Photo credit: © Tiffany & Co.
Schlumberger’s Ribbon Rosette necklace with the Ribbon clip and Diamond
- AZTEC COLLAR (1900) DESIGNED BY PAULDING FARNHAM
Photo credit: © Tiffany & Co.
Aztec collar featuring orange fire opals designed by celebrated 19th-century Tiffany designer Paulding Farnham for the Paris Exposition of 1900
- DIAMOND, EMERALD AND PEARL BROOCH (1887)
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Tiffany & Co.
Diamond, emerald and pearl brooch, included in Tiffany’s 1887 purchase of the French Crown Jewels
- BROOCHES OF GEMSTONES AND LACQUER INSPIRED BY TIFFANY’S 19TH-CENTURY AUDUBON DESIGN
Photo credit: © Tiffany & Co.
From Top: diamond, amethyst, tsavorite, yellow sapphire and lacquer brooch set in 18k yellow gold; diamond, tsavorite, spessartite and lacquer brooch set in 18k yellow gold
- CARNATION BROOCH
Photo credit: © Tiffany & Co.
Carnation brooch of pink sapphires, diamonds and tsavorites in platinum and 18 karat gold
- JEAN SCHLUMBERGER’S GOLD AND ENAMEL BRACELETS
Photo credit: Carlton Davis
Jean Schlumberger’s classic bracelets of paillonné enamel with 18 karat gold and gemstones.
- THE TIFFANY DIAMOND
Photo Credit: Carlton Davis
The finished necklace with the 128.54-carat Diamond and white diamonds totaling more than 100 carats
- MARY TODD LINCOLN SEED PEARL NECKLACE AND BROOCH (1861)
Photo credit: © Tiffany & Co.
Seed pearl necklace and brooch purchased by President Abraham Lincoln for his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, to wear to the Inaugural Ball in 1861
- TIFFANY ORCHID BROOCHES
Photo credit: Carlton Davis
Brooches created in the style of Paulding Farnham, the celebrated 19th-century Tiffany designer. The meticulous crafting process required a real flower to be dipped in wax. The brooches are then enameled, fired and bejeweled. From left: Slipper orchid with diamonds, Wildcat and Dancing Lady orchids with diamonds, Splash petal orchids with diamonds.
- TIFFANY PEACOCK BROOCH
Photo credit: Carlton Davis
Peacock brooch with black opals, green tourmalines, sapphires, and diamonds set in 18 karat yellow gold
No comments:
Post a Comment