The Art Nouveau of the late 1800’s and early 1900’s sparked new a dimension in the design and manufacture of decorative furnishings for the home. Art Nouveau began by discontent in the traditional Victorian styles, artists bored with its fussiness, detail, and style. Victorian essentially looked back for its inspiration while Art Nouveau looked more to the current, real world reflections for creative ideas.

In the beginning, Art Nouveau began in small localized territories around the world. Its first emergence was in Britain where international trade was more important than what it had ever been. There was new a consciousness, especially among young artists and designers, that this was a new age. The influence spread from Britain to all over Europe. The term "Art Nouveau" is a French term meaning "New Art". A new, modern age of art that should be reflected in their craftsmanship, and such, "new" art was needed. It was not limited to painting, or traditional art, but expanded to and included architecture, interior design, textiles, furniture, jewelry, lighting, decorative arts, silver and other utensils.

The philosophy of the early Art Nouveau was that art should be a way of life. Its underlying thinking was that art and modern society could be combined. They would not overlook the everyday object and attempted to redefine the nature and work of art to include everything. As the movement began to spread across Europe, each localized area would take on characteristics uniquely their own, however, the one common trait that seemed to emerge consistently was what is known as The Whiplash. It is characterized by "sudden violent curves generated by the crack of a whip", which became well known. Hence the term The Whiplash, which eventually became a term descriptive of the Art Nouveau.

Glass art became increasingly popular during this time period. Capitalizing on this new wave of artistic imagination were several glass artists. Here in this arena, different artists’ style, creativity, and methodology found tremendous expression. The likes of Louis Comfort Tiffany of New York, Charles Rennie Mackintosh in Glagow, and Emile Galle and the Daum brothers in Nancy, France rose to popularity.

At this same time period, Thomas Edison had successfully developed the light bulb to a point that it could last longer and be used in homes. On the other side of town, so to speak, Louis Comfort Tiffany was trying to decide to what to do with the discarded glass he had from making his large stained glass windows. Edison and Tiffany formed a partnership that turned out to be very lucrative for them both. The early light bulbs were not aesthetically pleasing, and were bright to the eyes. The two worked together to solve a common problem.

Mr. Tiffany, influenced by the Art Nouveau Movement, began designing opulent lamp shades and lamps that not only covered and toned down the annoying light bulb, but were reflections of the nature Mr. Tiffany commonly saw around him. The light from the bulb would illuminate and reflect the colors of the glass. He would use the discarded stained glass and fashion the pieces and colors into the lamps and shades we know today as Tiffany Style Lamps.

It has only been fairly recently that the Art Nouveau has been accepted as style and received any real recognition. However, Tiffany Lamps have always been accredited to influencing and be influenced by the changing winds of the Art Nouveau Movement. Today we enjoy the Tiffany Style Lamps that are still manufactured using the original, hand crafted, and high heat soldering process used in the making of the original lamps.