Making Light Bloom: Clara Driscoll and the Tiffany Lamps, by Sandra Nickel/Illustrated by Julie Paschkis, (June 2025, Peachtree Publishing), $18.99, ISBN: 9781682636091
Most folks know what a Tiffany Lamp looks like: bold, black outlines, luminous colors that bring incredible flora and fauna to life. Did you know that Tiffany wasn’t the creator of the Tiffany Lamp? I sure didn’t until I read Making Light Bloom and learned that a woman named Clara Driscoll and her “Tiffany Girls” were the creators of the lamps – and that no one knew about this until after both Driscoll’s and Tiffany’s deaths. Born in Ohio in 1861, Driscoll grew up surrounded by nature and sketched her surroundings. When she moved to New York City to “turn her talent for drawing into a skill that could help” her family, she was taken aback by the crowds and towering buildings, but she was in the right place at the right time. Securing a job with Louis C. Tiffany, she joined a team of artists that created pictures and shapes for stained glass windows. Eventually, her talent got her promoted to leading a team of women in her own workshop. Driscoll, receiving inspiration from flowers and butterflies sent from home, worked with the Tiffany Girls to create a stunning lampshade that won a bronze medal at the World’s Fair. Despite sexism from the male craftsmen, Tiffany continued having Driscoll make lamps, but they were referred to as “Tiffany Lamps”: people believed Louis C. Tiffany made them. Clara Driscoll went unnoticed and uncredited until her last sister passed away and letters from Clara were discovered, shedding light on the true architect of the Tiffany Lamp. Ink and gouache illustration created in the style of a Tiffany Lamp adds a breathtaking beauty to this picture book biography. An excellent STEM/STEAM addition to collections, with a bibliography and notes on the Tiffany Lamp and Driscoll’s letters.
Now you need to know more about Clara Driscoll, don’t you? Visit the New York Historical Society’s webpage for Tiffany Lamp coloring pages, where Clara Driscoll receives her due credit as the maker. The Georgia Museum of Art has some coloring sheets made from photos from their collection, too.
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