Duffner and Kimberly

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Duffner and Kimberly was a New York company which produced exquisite leaded glass and bronze lamps around the same time as Louis Comfort Tiffany, Tiffany Studios. D & K introduced their first lamps in 1905.

The company resulted from the partnership of a creative stained glass window designer named Oliver Kimberly and Frank Duffner who managed Plume and Atwood, a factory which produced kerosene lamps. Together they hired designer Howard Howell and became a force which directly competed with Tiffany Studios, being sold side by side at grand emporiums of the day such as Marshall Field & Company in Chicago. Their designs were varied to work with the interiors popular during this period - from geometric to florals, nature to Roman. From among their many lamp motifs, one could choose the Shell, Viking, Wisteria, and Grape Vineyard to name a few; or pick the gilt-bronze and leaded elegant Louis XIV lamp to go with a Louis XIV decor, or the unusual gilt-bronze leaded Spiderweb lamp for a more contemporary setting. An interesting part of the Duffner and Kimberly look was its effort, especially with the finer high-end examples, to match the theme of the shade to that of the base.

The workmanship of the bronze and quality of glass was on a par with Tiffany's lamps. However, because the company lacked the assets to sustain itself during the recession of 1908, along with changing tastes, Duffner and Kimberly succumbed to bankruptcy in 1913. Therefore, the company was only in production for a short period of time, a mere eight years. This fact has contributed to far fewer D&K lamps surviving to this day than Tiffany or other lesser competitors.