John Loring obit

Legendary Tiffany & Co. design director John Loring dead at age 86

 He was not on the list.

He was a real gem.

Tiffany & Co.’s John Loring passed away this week in Palm Beach at the age of 86.

Loring worked as the design director for the fabled company from 1979 to 2009, shaping the company’s legacy into what it is today. He was named design director emeritus of the brand following his retirement.

He wrote numerous books about Tiffany, several edited by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis when she was at Doubleday.

Tiffany & Co. told us in a statement that the company are “deeply saddened by the passing of John Loring, whose creativity and vision helped shape the House’s modern identity.”

“For three decades, he served as Design Director of Tiffany & Co. and remained a devoted steward of its heritage, bringing its history to life through his writing and curatorial work while ensuring its legacy continued to inspire new generations,” it continues. “He will be remembered not only for his extraordinary contributions, but also for his enduring passion for beauty and craftsmanship.”

“We extend our heartfelt condolences to his family, friends, and all who knew him. His legacy remains an indelible part of Tiffany & Co.’s story,” they said.

A graduate of Yale, Loring had previously worked as the New York bureau chief of Architectural Digest. He also studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and his prints and paintings have been displayed at Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney and the Met.

He also served on MoMA’s Acquisitions Committee for the Department of Prints and Illustrated Books.

In his role at Tiffanys, he traveled the world to select the items that would be sold in stores, growing from just seven locations when he started to the global powerhouse it is today.

A 1992 New Yorker article described Loring as a “luxury-goods impresario, commissioning watches in Switzerland, pottery in Portugal, vases in Murano, printed silks for scarves and neckties in Como, hand-painted porcelains in Paris.”

While frequently called an arbiter of taste, he seemed to bristle at the title, saying in the article, “The usual thought of an arbiter of taste is a repulsive one, because it leads to sameness in the world, and is killing to the imagination.”

Columbia University has an archive of Loring’s papers from 1961 until 2020, which documents “his wide range of friends and admirers,” including European royalty like Margrethe II, Queen of Denmark and her sister, Queen Anna Maria of Greece; Peggy Guggenheim, Ray Johnson, Harold Pinter, Joseph Losey, Tiffany designers Elsa Peretti and Paloma Picasso, and celebrities like Bette Davis, Joseph Losey, Ray Johnson, and “Ultra Violet.”

Famed celebrity photographer Harry Benson boasted of his friend in a 2011 article in the Palm Beach Post, “John is one of the most interesting people I’ve met and known. He knows an awful lot about everything, and he’s not tiresome with it. He’s got good manners, meaning he’s got time for everybody no matter who they are. People leave him knowing more than when they went in.”

John Loring was born in Chicago, Illinois on November 23, 1939.

Prior to joining Tiffany in 1979 as design director, Loring was the New York bureau chief of Architectural Digest, as well as having been one of the magazine's principal editorial contributors. He was also a professor of art at the graduate school of the University of California.[

Loring earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature from Yale University in 1960. After graduating, he continued his studies for four more years at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. Since 1964, his prints and paintings have been exhibited in Europe and the United States.

He continued to write on art and design. He served on the Acquisitions Committee of The Museum of Modern Art's Department of Prints and Illustrated Books. He was also a serious collector of 20th-century furniture and ceramics. His interests in cooking and interior design have been recognized in major publications, including The New York Times Magazine, Bon Appetit, Food and Wine, Architectural Digest, House & Garden, L’Oeil, Arbitare, GQ, House Beautiful, Metropolitan Home, Gala, The New Yorker, and French Vogue. He was honored with the feature profile in The New Yorker in the August 10, 1992, issue.