Establishment as a Strategic Response and Profit Driver

The establishment of the Women’s Glass Cutting Department in 1892 was a strategic business move by Louis Comfort Tiffany. Tiffany founded the department, in part, as a direct response to a strike by the all-male union of lead glaziers and glass cutters that year. By hiring women, Tiffany was able to continue production while simultaneously tapping into a new, flexible labor pool. The department started with six women and grew rapidly.

Tasks and Female Efficiency

Under Driscoll's leadership, the "Tiffany Girls" were responsible for glass selection, cutting, modeling, and designing. It was believed at the time that women had a keener sense of color and a better aptitude for fine handiwork and floral compositions than men. This made them highly effective.

Their tasks ranged from executing monumental windows to cutting the hundreds, sometimes thousands, of small pieces of glass for lampshades using the copper foil technique. Although the department also contributed to large projects, it eventually focused primarily on the production of lampshades and smaller bronze household items, known as the Fancy Goods Department.