John Loring

John Loring (born 1939) is design director emeritus of Tiffany & Co., having held the position from 1979 to 2009. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature from Yale University in 1960 and, after graduating, continued his studies for four more years at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Since 1964, his prints and paintings have been exhibited in Europe and the United States. He is the author of numerous books about Tiffany’s and art in general and a longtime contributor to Architectural Digest. Prior to joining Tiffany as design director, Loring was the New York bureau chief of Architectural Digest, as well as one of the magazine’s principal editorial contributors. He also served as a professor of art at the graduate school of the University of California.

Loring continues to write on art and design and serves on the Acquisitions Committee of the Museum of Modern Art’s Department of Prints and Illustrated Books. He is 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 Appétit, Food & Wine, Architectural Digest, House & Garden, L’Oeil, Abitare, GQ, House Beautiful, Metropolitan Home, Gala, The New Yorker, and French Vogue. He was honored with a feature profile in The New Yorker on August 10, 1992.

In the foreword to Loring’s 2011 photography book Christian Lost or Found, photojournalist Harry Benson wrote, “With every project he tackles, John Loring’s instinctive brilliance produces a little magic, and he has one of the best eyes for photography in the world. You cannot but linger over his photographs – You find there a haunting elegance that stays with you.” Loring has exhibited across the United States and Europe, and his work is held in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Yale University Art Gallery, among others.