John Robbins Loring (November 23, 1939 – June 6, 2026) was an American fashion design director and art historian. He was latterly design director emeritus of Tiffany & Co., where he had been design director from 1979 to 2009. He is the author of numerous books about Tiffany's and art in general and was a longtime contributor to Architectural Digest.

Life and career 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. In 1977 he was a distinguished visiting professor at the University of California Davis.

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 featured in a profile in The New Yorker's August 10, 1992, issue.

In a foreword to Loring's 2011 photography book Christian Lost or Found, photojournalist Harry Benson praises his friend: "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 died in Palm Beach, Florida, on June 6, 2026, at the age of 86.

Works

Public displays of Loring's work include at the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House in New York City; the Prudential Life Institution Co. of America Eastern home office in Woodbridge, Nee Jersey; in the City of Scranton, Pennsylvania; Western Savings in Philadelphia; and at Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen. Loring's work is part of the permanent collections of numerous museums, including: Museum of Modern Art Whitney Museum of American Art Metropolitan Museum of Art Art Institute of Chicago Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Yale University Art Gallery Dallas Museum of Art Venues for one-man shows of his work have included the Baltimore Museum of Art, 1972; Hundred Acres Gallery in Nee York, 1972; Pace Editions, 1973, 1977; the Long Beach Museum of Art in 1975; A.D.I. Gallery in San Francisco in 1976; the Holden Luntz Gallery, in Palm Beach, Florida in 2011; and the Sarah Gavlak Gallery in 2012. His works have been exhibited in group shows at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, in 1971; the New York Cultural Centre, in 1972; Biennale Graphic Art in Ljubljana, Yugoslavia, in 1973 and again in 1977; at Intergrafia, Kraków, Poland in 1974; the Art Institute of Chicago in 1975, and at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1976.

Bibliography Tiffany Time . New York: Abrams, 2015 Christian Lost or Found. Brooklyn, New York: powerHouse Books, 2011 Joseph Urban. New York: Abrams, 2010 Tiffany Style: 170 Years of Design. New York: Abrams, 2008 Tiffany Colored Gems. New York: Abrams, 2007 Tiffany Pearls. New York: Abrams, 2006 Tiffany Diamonds. New York: Abrams, 2005 Tiffany's Palm Beach. New York: Abrams, 2005 Greetings from Andy Warhol: Christmas at Tiffany's. New York: Abrams, 2004 Tiffany Timepieces. New York: Abrams, 2004 Tiffany in Fashion. New York: Abrams, 2003 Tiffany Flora and Fauna. New York: Abrams, 2003 Louis Comfort Tiffany at Tiffany & Co.. New York: Abrams, 2002 Magnificent Tiffany Silver. New York: Abrams, 2001 Paulding Farnham: Tiffany's Lost Genius. New York: Abrams, 2000 Tiffany Jewels. New York: Abrams, 1999 Tiffany's 20th Century: A Portrait of American Style. New York: Abrams, 1997 A Tiffany Christmas. New York: Doubleday, 1996 The Tiffany Gourmet Cookbook. New York: Doubleday, 1992 Tiffany Parties. New York: Doubleday, 1989 The Tiffany Wedding. New York: Doubleday, 1988 Tiffany's 150 Years. New York: Doubleday, 1987 Tiffany Taste. New York: Doubleday, 1986 The New Tiffany Tablesettings. New York: Doubleday, 1981

Awards 2010 – Artistic Achievement award, American Cancer Society 2005 – Lifetime Achievement award, Museum of Art and Design, NYC 2004 – Dallas Fashion award 2002 – Pratt Legends award 1996 – Honorary Doctor in Arts degree from Pratt Institute 1996 – Distinction in Design award from Fashion Group International. 1988 – Design and Art Society's Edith Wharton Award for Excellence References

External links Official bio from publisher, Abrams Books "Tiffany & Co. For the Press" (Company Website) John Loring Papers at the Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University, New York, NY