As artist, designer, and tastemaker, Louis Comfort Tiffany altered the course of American decorative arts in many fields, including stained glass, decorative mosaic, and blown glass. His name is synonymous with luxury goods as is his father's, Charles Lewis Tiffany, who founded Tiffany & Co. Louis C. began his career as a painter and collaborated, for a brief time, as an interior decorator. He began to experiment with glass in the 1870s and by the 1880s was creating his first stained glass windows. By the 1890s the output of his workshop included blown glass and by the turn of the century he was also fabricating leaded lamp shades, which would in part define his artistic practice. He was greatly inspired by the natural world and this influence is seen throughout his designs. Over the course of his career he employed hundreds of craftsmen and women who fabricated some of the most sought after and highest quality decorative art objects of the period.