Most of you have seen this lamp. The Wisteria lamp is probably the most recognized of Tiffany lamps, other than maybe the Dragonfly. Despite what has been written in the annals of design history, it was designed by Clara Wolcott Driscoll, not Louis Comfort Tiffany. 

Since we’re focusing on the lamp’s design history, we won’t spend much time on Tiffany. It is, however, important to note that he was the son of jeweler Charles Tiffany of Tiffany and Company. He had the money and status to start a successful glass business, unlike Driscoll, who came from a humble farming family in Tallmadge, Ohio. At age 21 she left with her sister to find work at the Tiffany Glass Studio in New York City, and while away she wrote hundreds of letters to her family back home. 

If not for these letters, discovered only in 2005, Driscoll’s impact on design history would never have been brought to light. In one of her 1901 letters, she proudly informs her family that the Wisteria lamp she designed is a success (by March 1905, some 123 examples had been made). Driscoll designed for Tiffany Studios over three separate tenures, from 1888 to 1909. Why three? Women were not allowed to be employed while either married or engaged. In 1892, Louis Comfort Tiffany made Driscoll the head of the women’s glass-cutting department. Unfortunately, he also took full credit for her designs. 

Driscoll led a staff of 35 women who called themselves the Tiffany Girls. They selected and cut each tiny piece of glass that would make up these colorful shades. Women were believed to be better suited for this work because of their smaller hands and, it was said, better sense of color.

Each Wisteria shade is composed of 2,000 pieces of glass and, at the time, sold for around $400; it’s valued today at $600,000. At the beginning of the design process, a cartoon drawing of the design was made to create an 18-inch-diameter shade adorned with a crown of bronze branches. The cartoon was then laid over carbon paper (this process was the same for every lamp made). Next, shades of blue, purple, white, yellow, and green glass were selected, and copper foil and beeswax were cast on the individual pieces. Only men were allowed to work with the heating tools, so they did the soldering. Finally, the entire shade was electroplated. 

The bronze base of the lamp was always in the shape of a tree. The shade’s floral forms and naturalistic coloration reveal the deep influence of the art nouveau and Japanesque aesthetics that were popular at the time. Wisteria was known as the “blue vine” in Japan, symbolizing long life and immortality. 

In 1909, after more than a decade of friendship, Driscoll married Edward Booth. It was around this time, while in her late forties, that she developed chronic headaches and failing eyesight. She finally left Tiffany, moving to the Jersey Shore and later to Florida. Last year, the New York Times published Overlooked No More: Clara Driscoll, Designer of Visions in Glass for Tiffany. (Overlooked is a series of obituaries about remarkable people whose deaths went unreported in the Times.) 

If the opportunity arises, visit the fourth floor of the New-York Historical Society and experience the beauty of light passing through the curtain of dripping wisteria blossoms created by
Clara Driscoll.