THE TIFFANY® DIAMOND BIRD ON A ROCK SETTING The Diamond in Jean Schlumberger’s whimsical Bird on a Rock setting. Photo credit: Carlton Davis
They are mentioned in Marilyn Monroe songs. They are so famous that a 1971 Bond film has a character named after them. And, who can forget Truman Capote’s 1958 novella, whose title refers to their store. In fact, the protagonist of the novel calls it “the best place in the world, where nothing bad can take place”. What are we talking about? Tiffany & Co, of course! The name began its journey to fame in the year 1837, when 25year-old Charles Lewis Tiffany and John B. Young, opened a ‘stationery and fancy goods’ store in New York with a $1,000 advance from Tiffany’s father. At the new emporium at 259 Broadway, fashionable ladies discovered a newly emerging ‘American style’ that departed from European design aesthetics. The young entrepreneurs were inspired by the natural world, which they interpreted in exquisite patterns of simplicity, harmony and clarity. These soon became the hallmarks of Tiffany design that initially found resonance in silver hollowware and flatware, and later in jewellery. The name Tiffany created ripples internationally and gained global recognition at the Paris Exposition Universelle in 1867. At the event, the company was awarded the grand prize for silver craftsmanship, the first time that an American design house had been so honoured by a foreign jury. That the company was hugely committed not only to design aesthetics but strict quality control as well was
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