Gay Fad Studios

Fran Taylor worked in Detroit from 1938-1945 doing cold paint on metal and glass, hand decorating wastebaskets and other tin items, as well as an ever increasing number of glass pieces. She opened Gay Fad Studios in Lancaster, Ohio (1945 to 1963) Gay Fad was one of the best known and most prolific decorating companies in the country. Fran and her staff did extensive decorating work on “blanks” purchased from Anchor Hocking, Hazel Atlas, Federal Glass, and Imperial Glass, among others. However, few of the Gay Fad pieces were marked (many carried paper labels that were immediately taken off or became lost over the years), and this has led to a great deal of confusion as to which pieces were actually decorated by Gay Fad and which were decorated by other companies in the “Gay Fad style.” On the marked pieces of Gay Fad the signature seem to be consistent, an interlocking G and backward F in whatever color coordinated with the overall design.

The Gay Fad Studio closed in 1962.