They do not give presidential discounts, but Tiffany & Co. is proud of its long andoften humorous association with the White House and those who live in it.From outfitting First Ladies with elegant and extravagant jewels to casting the aluminumpyramid atop the Washington Monument, Tiffany’s has been a standardin Washington since the company first made its appearance in 1837. They haveeven placed two extremely precious pieces of jewelry in the Smithsonian Hall ofGems. Here, John Loring, director of design at Tiffany & Co. and currently ontour with his new book, Tiffany Jewels, takes us along for a ride down memorylane and lets us in on a few of its stories.

Washington Life:You have said that George Paulding Farnham, who began designing forTiffany & Co. at age twenty-five in 1885, was without contest the greatest American Jewelrydesigner our country has produced. Why do you think so?
John Loring:Because he brought so many innovations to jewelry in the nineteenth century,and because of the superb quality of his work, there certainly has been no other Americandesigner who won that many gold medals at international exhibitions who received such astonishingacclaim at such a young age. At twenty-nine, he won a gold medal for jewelry at the ParisWorld’s Fair of 1889. Now that may not seem so astonishing today, but 112 years ago, a twenty-nineyear old from New York winning a gold medal against all the European jewelry houses wasastonishing. His enameled orchids were tremendously influential at the time on the look of futurejewelry and on nouveau jewelry. He also presented large collections of jewelry based on NativeAmerican design, such as pictograms, basket and blanket patterns. This was another great innovationthat no one else had thought of using.

WL:What other designers do you admire?
JL:Paloma Picasso and Elsa Peretti. Of course we love them because they brought the whole look ofcontemporary jewelry to the world, without resorting to any sort of arty tricks. They designedreally elegant jewelry that was available to a broad public, and available to the young.

WL:Can you describe the process of design today and what direction design will take in thefuture?
JL:The process is always the same—go back to basics. Never start with a preconceived notion ofwhat something looks like but wipe the slate clean and go back to something absolutely basic. Forexample, the fireworks collection that we did not long ago was based on nothing more complicatedthan “let’s everyone take large sheets of newsprint and start to do graffiti stars in all different ways tosee which ones start to have presence and life that’s dynamic to them.

WL:Can you give a preview of some Tiffany designs that we may be seeing soon?
JL:No more than I would give a preview to all of our competitors.

WL:Tiffany & Co. designed the Lady Bird Johnson White House China and the MaryTodd Lincoln Pearls. Can you talk a little about that?
JL:Tiffany and the White House have had a long history together. Of course, everyone pointsto the famous pearl jewelry that Abraham Lincoln made for Mary Todd Lincoln to wear to his inauguration.We made many things for presidents over the years. We made a great deal of silver—three very important, very elaborate sets of silver for President Grant which he presented to threejudges of the Geneva tribunal in 1873. People today might ask, what was the Geneva tribunal?The Geneva tribunal was the war reparations tribunal after the Civil War, and in this case, the silverwas made for their judgment against the English government, because Queen Victoria wasconspiring with the Confederacy to build Federal warships to fight the United States. One of thosesets is on display at the Chicago Art Institute. Through the years, we made many things for variouspresidents, including the White House China with wildflowers that were so dear to the heartof Lady Bird Johnson.

WL:Was the Lady Bird Johnson China commissioned?
JL:The Johnsons commissioned it from Tiffany & Co. with the specific request that themotif be American wildflowers. Mrs. Johnson has been quite active and successful in havingAmerican wildflowers planted by highways all over the United States. It’s beautiful.

WL:And Jackie Kennedy, you knew her well?
JL:Mrs. Kennedy had her Schlumberger engagement ring and was a great fan ofTiffany’s. And yes, I knew her very well. I had the very great privilege of not only knowing herbut also working with her for fifteen years. She was my editor and we were finished withthree–quarters of the seventh book when she “exited” and I had to finish that one by myself.So, that was a very close Tiffany & Co. relationship with one of America’s First Ladies.

WL:Do you have defining moments or favorite memories with her?
JL:You know every memory of her is a favorite memory. Sometimes I chuckle at the public’simage about those world-renowned and revered figures and how their lives unfold on adaily basis, and I think of afternoons with Mrs. Onassis and myself sitting on the floor of heroffice or my office with photographs strewn out all over the floor and crawling around rearrangingthem while eating lunch or drinking tea out of Styrofoam cups and plates. One day she said, “It’sprobably lucky that Robin Leach [“of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous”] can’t see me now.” Thoseare fun memories. She was wonderful, and wonderful to work with. She had a real generosity ofspirit and goodness to her.

WL:Two little-known facts are that Tiffany & Co. designed the great seal of America and alsothe top of the Washington Monument. How did this come about?
JL:The current top of the Washington Monument is not the original one. It had beenstruck by lightning or weathered and when they restored the monument, it had to be replaced. Itmust have been fifteen or nearly twenty years ago when they replaced the top aluminum pyramid.When this was happening, I gave a press lunch to show the press the new top of the WashingtonMonument, and I set up a little ramp so that every member of the press could jump over it andsay legitimately that they had jumped over the top of the Washington Monument. (laughing)

WL:So how did it happen that Tiffany’s would design the original?
JL:Tiffany’s seemed to be considered the great expert on metal casting. It’s unfortunate that exactrecords of most of these things were not kept. We know that we did it, but we’re not too good at theentire folklore of exactly who commissioned it and how it came about. The huge bronze faces on theflagpoles in front of the New York Public Library were also cast by Tiffany & Co. We know theWashington Monument was not cast in New York but in Philadelphia for reasons that I think are lostand Tiffany & Co. was involved in so many things in the 19th century. We know that the great sealwas commissioned by Secretary Burlinghouse because some of those letters and copies of the lettersstill exist, and that James Horton Whitehouse was the Tiffany designer who designed it. Butbeyond that, all the details of it, we don’t know. We also know that during the various wars wehave designed the military insignia and many, many swords for the generals of the Civil War.So we have a very long history with Washington. In fact, Tiffany & Co.’s LouisComfort Tiffany decorated the White House for President Buchanan. Then in 1901, whenPresident McKinley was shot and Theodore Roosevelt became the president, the rough andready Theodore Roosevelt was not of the mind for much interior decoration, so he had theTiffany decorations packed up and stored somewhere. I’m not sure where they are or ifthey still exist. He’s the president that hung the moose head in the dining room, and a moosehead over the fireplace in the dining room does not go well with Tiffany interior decorations.(laughing) There were differences there.

WL:Well, think that’s about it. You’re on a book tour now for Tiffany Jewels...
JL:I am on a book tour. But there’s one more presidential Tiffany jewel. PresidentEisenhower designed a pendant for Mamie Eisenhower. And it has a certain period charm toit, but I would say that since then we have probably discouraged the presidents of the United Statesfrom becoming jewelry designers. (laughing) There’s an amusing story about when it was made:President Eisenhower went to Mr. Walter Hoving, who was then the principal owner and chairmanof Tiffany & Co., and said, “Well, Walter does the President of the United States get a discount atTiffany & Co.?” And Mr. Hoving looked at him and said, “Well, Abraham Lincoln didn’t.” So Ikedid not receive a discount.