Tiffany & Company is an American jewellery and silverware company founded by Charles Lewis Tiffany (1812-1902) and John Burnett Young (1815-1859) in New York City in 1837. The store initially operated as a "stationery and fancy goods emporium" in lower Manhattan, soon taking on a new partner and with him a new name, Tiffany, Young and Ellis. The name became Tiffany & Co in 1853 when Charles Tiffany took control, and around that time the firm established itself as a purveyor of silver and jewellery of their own design and manufacture.
Tiffany was a pioneer on various fronts, including silversmithing, jewellery design, and gemmology, all of which won them numerous accolades and grand prizes from International Exhibitions throughout the nineteenth and into the twentieth century. Of particular note was Tiffany’s promotion of the science of gemstones lead by George Frederick Kunz (1856-1932), prodigy and Head Gemologist at the firm from 1879 until this death.
Upon the death of Charles Tiffany, his son Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933), a contemporary of René Lalique and perhaps most famous for his own art glass, presided over the firm. During the twentieth century the firm became a truly global brand, bringing top designers—including Jean Schlumberger, Elsa Peretti and Paloma Picasso—as well as the finest materials from all over the world. Due to their prolonged excellence over the years Tiffany has enjoyed the patronage of barons of industry, movie stars, heads of state and royalty.
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