posted 03-18-2002 03:30 PM            

Tiffany & Co. and the Modernist Vision: From Christopher Dresser to Elsa Peretti
presented by: John Loring, Design Director - Tiffany & Co.

Anyone who follows Tiffany knows of John Loring. He has authored eleven books on the subject and has held his position at Tiffany since 1979. As with Mr. Hawley of Cleveland, the longevity of the presenter's relationship with the institution provides the audience with a unique and rich educational experience.

Mr. Loring guided us through the tenure of Edward C Moore as chief designer for Tiffany & Co. Mr. Moore was responsible for engaging Christopher Dresser on behalf of Tiffany to travel to Japan to gather and bring back examples of Japanese artistry which became the inspiration for Tiffany's popular Japanesque works. Two thousand of these Japanese examples were bequeathed by Moore to the Metropolitan Museum of Art upon his death in 1891. Mr. Loring proceeded to discuss the designs of Charles Osborne who was with Tiffany between 1879 and 1887 and alleged squabbles between Osborne and Paulding Farnham that may have resulted in Osborne's departure from Tiffany. Wonderful slides were shown of Farnham designed holloware inspired by Native American art. The extraordinary enameling on these pieces was executed by John T Curran who was put in charge of silver at the Chicago Exposition after Moore's death. Mr. Loring chronologically brought us up to the present showing us the evolution of Elsa Peretti's silver designs for Tiffany as well as Tiffany's other current offerings.